NASA Earthdata and the Global Hydrometeorological Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC) have released data acquired by the Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) during the North American Upstream Feature‑Resolving and Tropopause Uncertainty Reconnaissance Experiment (NURTURE) campaign. The AVAPS dataset files are available for the period from January 21 through February 19, 2026. The dataset consists of data files in ICARTT and netCDF-5 formats.
The AVAPS dataset consists of vertical atmospheric profile measurements collected by the AVAPS dropsondes. These dropsondes were released by the NASA G-III aircraft as part of the North American Upstream Feature-Resolving and Tropopause Uncertainty Reconnaissance Experiment (NURTURE). AVAPS uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) dropsonde to measure atmospheric state parameters—temperature, humidity, wind speed/direction, pressure—and location in three-dimensional space during the dropsonde’s descent.
The NURTURE campaign focused on quantifying the impact that poleward perturbations of the jet stream have on jet stream variability and high impact weather events. NURTURE provided the first mesoscale observations of antecedent tropopause structure and near-jet environment that lead to high impact weather events. NURTURE researchers targeted tropopause polar vortices, dynamics supporting jet superpositions, mesoscale stratosphere-troposphere interactions, and diabatic processes (ESPO 2026).
The AVAPS dataset files are available from January 21 through February 19, 2026. The dataset consists of data files in ICARTT and netCDF-5 formats.
Browse images of the data in a skew-T diagram are available in PNG format.