Abstract:
NMC Global Upper Air is historical digital data set DSI-6302, archived at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). DSI-6302 consists of meteorological upper air data from around the world provided by the National Meterological Center (NMC), which later became the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). NMC received the data via the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and later
... sent it to NCDC. Data began in 1946 and ended in 1998. This data set is one of a large family of NCDC upper air data sets that are collectively called CARDS, or Comprehensive Aerological Data Sets. CARDS data includes the following purely meteorological parameters: clouds and obscuration, pressure, geopotential height, temperature, relative humidity, dew point depression, and wind speed and direction. CARDS data also includes a large number of technical specifications and quality control parameters. NCDC maintains this data set in archive but no longer updates nor actively distributes it. It has been superseded by the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) (C00616). 
