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Please note: Due to browser FTP deprecation, users will no longer be able to access NCEI data via browser FTP clients. Users may access data via NCEI Web Accessible Folders and/or FTP client supported applications. We apologize for any inconvenience. See this document as reference. 

Weather Balloon Data

NOAA weather balloon

NOAA weather balloon carrying atmospheric instruments

NCEI plans to discontinue DSI-6301, US and US operated station radiosonde data, on May 31, 2019. All Radiosonde data traditionally provided in DSI-6301 are now available in NCEI’s Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) version 2 data set. The data are accessible via the IGRA webpage (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/weather-balloon/integrated-global-radiosonde-archive).  Questions or comments can be directed to NCEI customer engagement personnel at ncei.orders@noaa.gov.   

Weather data from the atmosphere, beginning at three meters above the Earth's surface, are considered weather balloon or upper air data. These data are obtained from radiosondes, which are instrument packages tethered to balloons that are launched from the ground, ascend through the troposphere into the stratosphere, and transmit back to a receiving station on the ground. These observations include vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, and geopotential height.