National Weather Service Raw Upper Air Observational Data - Monthly
These National Weather Service (NWS) raw upper air data contain flight data from sites monthly. Majority are Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS) sites, spanning about 7 to 72 degrees latitude and -171 to 172 degrees longitude. Data go back to 2003 to present operational flights. Non-RRS historically, and currently, submit a monthly data package containing a "H" ASCII flight metadata file a "T" ASCII mandatory for each flight conducted during the month. They also submit a third, higher resolution data file, although in some cases NCEI does not have a decoder for those data.
These raw observations are inputs to NWS Radiosonde Standard Levels data (DSI 6301), where the data are encoded at each site using the World Meteorological Organization Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data (BUFR) format, then packaged with briefer ASCII formatted flight data and transmitted to NCEI via a push to NCEI's FTP from individual sites.
Complete Metadata
| @type | dcat:Dataset |
|---|---|
| accessLevel | non-public |
| contactPoint |
{
"fn": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
"@type": "vcard:Contact",
"hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.orders@noaa.gov"
}
|
| describedByType | application/octet-steam |
| description | These National Weather Service (NWS) raw upper air data contain flight data from sites monthly. Majority are Radiosonde Replacement System (RRS) sites, spanning about 7 to 72 degrees latitude and -171 to 172 degrees longitude. Data go back to 2003 to present operational flights. Non-RRS historically, and currently, submit a monthly data package containing a "H" ASCII flight metadata file a "T" ASCII mandatory for each flight conducted during the month. They also submit a third, higher resolution data file, although in some cases NCEI does not have a decoder for those data. These raw observations are inputs to NWS Radiosonde Standard Levels data (DSI 6301), where the data are encoded at each site using the World Meteorological Organization Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data (BUFR) format, then packaged with briefer ASCII formatted flight data and transmitted to NCEI via a push to NCEI's FTP from individual sites. |
| distribution |
[
{
"@type": "dcat:Distribution",
"title": "tl_2025_48309_faces.zip",
"mediaType": "placeholder/value",
"description": "The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are the fully supported, core geographic product from the U.S. Census Bureau. They are extracts of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System.",
"downloadURL": "https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2025/FACES/tl_2025_48309_faces.zip",
"describedByType": "application/octet-steam"
}
]
|
| identifier | tl_2025_48309_faces.shp.iso.xml |
| issued | 2025-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00 |
| keyword |
[
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Altitude > Geopotential Height",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Surface Temperature > Air Temperature",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Indicators > Dew Point Temperature",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Indicators > Humidity",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Upper Level Winds > Wind Speed/Wind Direction",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Clouds > Cloud Properties > Cloud Frequency",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Clouds > Cloud Types",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Clouds > Cloud Properties > Cloud Base Height",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Weather Events > Fog",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Profiles",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature > Upper Air Temperature",
"Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds > Wind Profiles",
"Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Temperature",
"Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Wind Speed And Direction",
"Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Water Vapour",
"Atmospheric - Upper-air - Cloud Properties",
"Atmospheric - Surface - Air Pressure",
"Atmospheric - Surface - Air Temperature",
"Atmospheric - Surface - Water Vapour",
"Atmospheric - Surface - Wind Speed And Direction",
"Continent > North America > United States Of America",
"Ocean > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Micronesia > Guam",
"Ocean > Pacific Ocean > Western Pacific Ocean > Micronesia",
"Vertical Location > Troposphere",
"Vertical Location > Stratosphere",
"RADIOSONDES",
"RAWINSONDES",
"GPS RECEIVERS",
"APS > Air Pressure Sensor",
"Thermometers",
"RADIOSONDES",
"BALLOONS",
"Point Resolution",
"Point Resolution",
"1 second - < 1 minute",
"DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
"DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
"DOC/NOAA/NWS > National Weather Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
"Metadata_Not_Published"
]
|
| language |
[]
|
| license | https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ |
| modified | 2003-09-01T00:00:00.000+00:00 |
| publisher |
{
"name": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
"@type": "org:Organization"
}
|
| rights | otherRestrictions |
| spatial | -96.801123,31.244215,-97.60523,31.863079 |
| temporal | 2025-06-01T00:00:00+00:00/2026-10-01T00:00:00+00:00 |
| title | National Weather Service Raw Upper Air Observational Data - Monthly |
