The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain dataset was collected from the High-altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP), which is a dual-frequency (Ku- and Ka-band, or approximately 14 and 35 GHz), dual-beam (30 degree and 40 degree incidence angle), conically scanning radar that has been designed for the Global Hawk aircraft during the HS3 campaign. Goals for HS3 included: assessing the relative roles of large-scale environment and storm-scale internal processes; and addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification as well as the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. HIWRAP uses solid state transmitters along with a novel pulse compression scheme that results in a system that is considerably more compact and requires less power than typical radars used for precipitation and wind measurements. By conically scanning at 10-20 rpm, its beams sweeped below the Global Hawk collecting Doppler velocity/reflectivity profiles. The unique HIWRAP sampling and phase correction strategy implemented (frequency diversity Doppler processing technique). HIWRAP's dual-wavelength operation enables it to map full tropospheric winds from cloud and precipitation volume backscatter measurements, derive information about precipitation drop-size distributions, and estimate the ocean surface winds using scatterometry techniques. Winds will be retrieved using a gridding approach similar to well-established ground-based multi-Doppler radar wind analyses. More information can be found at http://har.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.php?section

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) was collected by the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), which was a multi-band passive microwave radiometer operating between 4-6.6 GHz. It used a novel interferometric aperture synthesis technique to produce high resolution wide swath observations without any mechanical scanning of the antenna. The instrument was designed to measure ocean surface wind speed in tropical storms and hurricanes. Developed in collaboration between scientists and engineers at National Aeronautics and Space Administration Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA MSFC), the University of Central Florida, and the University of Michigan, the instrument was first flown on a NASA high altitude aircraft in the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) Experiment in 2010 and was then flown for the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) in 2012-2014.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Global Hawk Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) Dropsonde System dataset was collected by the Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS), built by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which served as the dropsonde system for the Global Hawk aircraft during the HS3 campaign. Goals for HS3 included: assessing the relative roles of large-scale environment and storm-scale internal processes; and addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification as well as the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. AVAPS dropsondes provide in-situ, high-vertical resolution measurements of atmospheric variables including pressure, temperature, humidity, geographic location, and winds, providing a vertical profile of the atmospheric conditions. The raw instrument measurement precision is as follows: pressure +-1.0 hPa, temperature +-0.2 degrees C, wind +-1 ms-1, and humidity +-7 percent. The measured information was transmitted via Iridium or Ku-Band satellite to the ground station where the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) performed additional processing for research and operational purposes.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Tropics Satellite Data contains browse only data files, including brightness temperature, rain rate, and Red, Green, Blue (RGB) composite imagery, for the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) field campaign. Goals for the HS3 field campaign included assessing the relative roles of large-scale environmental and storm-scale internal processes, addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification, and the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. These browse only data files are available for dates between April 22, 2013 and September 30, 2014 in JPG format.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Tropics Satellite Data contains browse only data files, including brightness temperature, rain rate, and Red, Green, Blue (RGB) composite imagery, for the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) field campaign. Goals for the HS3 field campaign included assessing the relative roles of large-scale environmental and storm-scale internal processes, addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification, and the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. These browse only data files are available for dates between April 22, 2013 and September 30, 2014 in JPG format.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) Dust Aerosol Optical Thickness Imagery dataset consists of browse only imagery showing dust aerosol optical thickness and wind speed/direction from the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, version 5 (GEOS-5). These data are used to see how the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) affects hurricane development during the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) field campaign. Goals for the HS3 field campaign included assessing the relative roles of large-scale environmental and storm-scale internal processes, addressing the controversial role of the SAL in tropical storm formation and intensification, and the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. The browse only data files are available for dates between August 11, 2014 and October 5, 2014 at 3-hour intervals in PNG format.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Cloud Top Height dataset contains could top height images obtained from infrared observations of the 15th Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-15) and the 10th Meteorological Satellite (METEOSAT-10) using the Algorithm Working Group (AWG) Cloud Height Algorithm (ACHA) for the Hurricane and Severe Storm sentinel (HS3) field campaign. Goals for the HS3 field campaign included assessing the relative roles of large-scale environment and storm-scale internal processes, addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification, and the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. The images are available for dates between August 14, 2014 and October 3, 2014 at 15 minutes intervals in PNG format.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Global Hawk Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) Dropsonde System dataset was collected by the Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS), built by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which served as the dropsonde system for the Global Hawk aircraft during the HS3 campaign. Goals for HS3 included: assessing the relative roles of large-scale environment and storm-scale internal processes; and addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification as well as the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. AVAPS dropsondes provide in-situ, high-vertical resolution measurements of atmospheric variables including pressure, temperature, humidity, geographic location, and winds, providing a vertical profile of the atmospheric conditions. The raw instrument measurement precision is as follows: pressure +-1.0 hPa, temperature +-0.2 degrees C, wind +-1 ms-1, and humidity +-7 percent. The measured information was transmitted via Iridium or Ku-Band satellite to the ground station where the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) performed additional processing for research and operational purposes.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Global Hawk Navigation dataset consists of the real-time navigation and housekeeping data that was acquired from various instruments aboard the Global Hawk including the LN-100G IMU navigation system and the Global Hawk flight computer during the HS3 campaign. The goals for HS3 included: assessing the relative roles of large-scale environment and storm-scale internal processes, and addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification as well as the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. This dataset was broadcast on the Global Hawk aircraft network by the NASDAT (NASA Airborne Science Data Acquisition and Transmission unit) as 1 Hz Universal Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets. These UDP packets were generated in IWG1 format, a type of ASCII format supported by all NASA and NCAR aircraft.

The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Global Hawk High Altitude MMIC Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR) dataset includes measurements gathered by the HAMSR instrument during the HS3 campaign. Goals for HS3 included: assessing the relative roles of large-scale environment and storm-scale internal processes; and addressing the controversial role of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) in tropical storm formation and intensification as well as the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms. HAMSR has 25 spectral channels which are split into 3 bands: an 8-channel band centered 53-GHz, used to infer the 3-D distribution of temperature; a 10-channel band centered at 118 GHz, used for secondary temperature sounding and assessment of scattering; and a 7-channel band centered at 183 GHz, used to measure water vapor (humidity) and cloud liquid water content in the atmosphere. This dataset also contains measurements that can be used to infer the 3-dimensional distribution of temperature, water vapor, and cloud liquid water profiles in the atmosphere, even in the presence of clouds. HAMSR is mounted in payload zone 3 near the nose of the Global Hawk NASA aircraft. Data is available in netCDF/CF format.