COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA-86): Global compilations of ground-based, radiosonde, NIMBUS satellite and MSIS-86 model data from 1963-1973

The COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA) provides empirical models of atmospheric temperatures and densities as recommended by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). A global climatology of atmospheric temperature, zonal velocity and geopotential height derived from a combination of satellite, radiosonde and ground-based measurements and model data. The reference atmosphere extends from pole to pole and 0-120 km. The majority of the data are on a 5 degree latitude grid and approximately 2 km vertical resolution.

The lower part (0-120 km) of CIRA-86 consists of tables of the monthly mean values of temperature and zonal wind with almost global coverage (80N - 80S). Two sets of files were compiled, one in pressure coordinates including also the geopotential heights, and one in height coordinates

including also the pressure values. These tables were generated from several global data compilations including ground-based and satellite (Nimbus 5,6,7) measurements: Oort (1983), Labitzke et al. (1985). The lower part was merged with MSIS-86 at 120 km altitude. In general, hydrostatic and thermal wind balance are maintained at all levels. The model accurately reproduces most of the characteristic features of the atmosphere such as the equatorial wind and the general structure

of the tropopause, stratopause, and mesopause.

This data set is a corrected version of the original CIRA data files as provided by J. Barnett (July 1990) in ASCII format.

Additionally a netCDF version of the data were produced by BADC user and added to this dataset.

This dataset is public.

Date (Publication): 2007-01-04T18:51:30

Date (Creation): 2007-01-04T18:51:30

Citation identifier: https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/d758b820b4eba646ff0d6c05b552e23d

Citation identifier: NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC) / d758b820b4eba646ff0d6c05b552e23d

Point of contact

Organisation name	Electronic mail address	Role
NASA National Space Science Data Center	unknown	Author
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	Custodian
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	Distributor
Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)	unknown	Principal investigator
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	pointofContact
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	Publisher

Maintenance and update frequency: Not planned

Update scope: Dataset

Keywords

COSPAR
CIRA
reference atmosphere

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

atmospheric conditions

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Public data: access to these data is available to both registered and non-registered users.

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Under the following licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/, appropriate use of these data may fall under any use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.

Spatial representation type: Grid

Language: English

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Begin date: 1963-01-01T00:00:00

End date: 1973-12-31T00:00:00

Unique resource identifier: WGS 84

Distribution format

Name	Version
Original data are ASCII formatted. A netCDF version has also been prepared.

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/d758b820b4eba646ff0d6c05b552e23d	CEDA Data Catalogue Page

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/cira/data/	DOWNLOAD

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://zenodo.org/record/7356807/files/nssdc_help.txt	CIRA help document (NSSDC - National Space Science Data Center)

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Statement: ASCII data files acquired as is from the NASA National Space Science Data Center. Netcdf file produced and provided by a BADC user.

Metadata

File identifier: d758b820b4eba646ff0d6c05b552e23d XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Parent identifier: COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA-86): Global Climatology of Atmospheric Parameters
4996e5b2f53ce0b1f2072adadaeda262

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Date stamp: 2026-01-22T03:01:47

Metadata standard name: UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version: 2.3

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Point of contact

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