Wind moving through Earth’s atmosphere from 30,000 feet high in the jet stream to breezes near the ground shape the planet, drive its weather, and constantly factor into our everyday lives. With ground-level, airborne, and space-based instruments such as radiometers and dropsondes, NASA collects large amounts of wind data to characterize, understand, and predict this literal force of nature. The data are gathered from various sources including NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Ground Validation (GPM GV) program, and field campaigns such as the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) study.

NASA’s data includes measurements of ocean surface wind speed and direction, vertical wind profiles, surface wind observations, and wind dynamics. This data has many applications and is used for topics such as air quality research, tracking and understanding tropical cyclones, wildfire prediction and management, and examining climate processes.