Radiosonde observations from the former Soviet "North Pole" series of drifting ice stations, 1954-90

An historical archive of over 25 000 radiosonde observations from the forme r Soviet "North Pole" series of drifting ice stations has been compiled and made available to interested researchers. This archive is the only long-te rm set of meteorological sounding data over the Arctic Ocean. The digital a rchive is a result of the multiyear, collaborative efforts of a group of Un ited States and Russian scientists and keypunch operators working under the auspices of Working Group VIII, an area of study within the United States- Russian Federation Agreement for Protection of the Environment and Natural Resources. The archive contains soundings from 21 drifting stations over th e period 1954-90 and is being distributed by the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.