Upper-Air Soundings
Upper-air soundings on TerraPulse are organized into two dexes — each slot a measured platform
that actually launches radiosondes into the atmosphere. The radiosonde_station Locationdex
holds fixed launch sites; the mobile_radiosonde MovingPlatformdex holds ship-based and mobile
soundings. Every profile is a real balloon ascent, not a model. No forecasts.
The dexes
The data lives across two dexes from different families. Counts are live and grow as the archive expands:
| Dex | Family | Holds | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
radiosonde_station | Locationdex | Fixed launch sites — land-based sounding stations | 2,821 |
mobile_radiosonde | MovingPlatformdex | Ship-based and mobile soundings that move between launches | 100 |
Together, nearly 2,900 measured sounding platforms.
Provenance
Every platform traces to NOAA’s Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) — the global collection of quality-controlled radiosonde and pilot-balloon observations maintained by NCEI. That source is registered against both dexes, so any record on TerraPulse carries a direct line back to its originating IGRA sounding.
What’s in a record
Each platform slot carries:
- Identity — station or platform ID and name
- Location — latitude, longitude, and elevation (or track, for mobile platforms)
- Profile levels — pressure, geopotential height, temperature, humidity, and wind at each level
- Launch time — nominal observation time, UTC
- Period of record — first and most recent sounding