ACCLIP_Cloud_AircraftInSitu_WB57_Data is the in-situ cloud data collection during the Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical & Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP). Data from the Cloud, Aerosol, and Precipitation Spectrometer (CAPS) is featured in this collection. Data collection for this product is complete. ACCLIP is an international, multi-organizational suborbital campaign that aims to study aerosols and chemical transport that is associated with the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) in the Western Pacific region from 15 July 2022 to 31 August 2022. The ASM is the largest meteorological pattern in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) during the summer and is associated with persistent convection and large anticyclonic flow patterns in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). This leads to significant enhancements in the UTLS of trace species that originate from pollution or biomass burning. Convection connected to the ASM occurs over South, Southeast, and East Asia, a region with complex and rapidly changing emissions due to its high population density and economic growth. Pollution that reaches the UTLS from this region can have significant effects on the climate and chemistry of the atmosphere, making it important to have an accurate representation and understanding of ASM transport, chemical, and microphysical processes for chemistry-climate models to characterize these interactions and for predicting future impacts on climate. The ACCLIP campaign is conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with the primary goal of investigating the impacts of Asian gas and aerosol emissions on global chemistry and climate. The NASA WB-57 and NCAR G-V aircraft are outfitted with state-of-the-art sensors to accomplish this. ACCLIP seeks to address four scientific objectives related to its main goal. The first is to investigate the transport pathways of ASM uplifted air from inside of the anticyclone to the global UTLS. Another objective is to sample the chemical content of air processed in the ASM in order to quantify the role of the ASM in transporting chemically active species and short-lived climate forcing agents to the UTLS to determine their impact on stratospheric ozone chemistry and global climate. Third, information is obtained on aerosol size, mass, and chemical composition that is necessary for determining the radiative effects of the ASM to constrain models of aerosol formation and for contrasting the organic-rich ASM UTLS aerosol population with that of the background aerosols. Last, ACCLIP seeks to measure the water vapor distribution associated with the monsoon dynamical structure to evaluate transport across the tropopause and determine the role of the ASM in water vapor transport in the stratosphere.

ACCLIP_Cloud_AircraftInSitu_WB57_Data is the in-situ cloud data collection during the Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical & Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP). Data from the Cloud, Aerosol, and Precipitation Spectrometer (CAPS) is featured in this collection. Data collection for this product is complete.ACCLIP is an international, multi-organizational suborbital campaign that aims to study aerosols and chemical transport that is associated with the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) in the Western Pacific region from 15 July 2022 to 31 August 2022. The ASM is the largest meteorological pattern in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) during the summer and is associated with persistent convection and large anticyclonic flow patterns in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). This leads to significant enhancements in the UTLS of trace species that originate from pollution or biomass burning. Convection connected to the ASM occurs over South, Southeast, and East Asia, a region with complex and rapidly changing emissions due to its high population density and economic growth. Pollution that reaches the UTLS from this region can have significant effects on the climate and chemistry of the atmosphere, making it important to have an accurate representation and understanding of ASM transport, chemical, and microphysical processes for chemistry-climate models to characterize these interactions and for predicting future impacts on climate.The ACCLIP campaign is conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with the primary goal of investigating the impacts of Asian gas and aerosol emissions on global chemistry and climate. The NASA WB-57 and NCAR G-V aircraft are outfitted with state-of-the-art sensors to accomplish this. ACCLIP seeks to address four scientific objectives related to its main goal. The first is to investigate the transport pathways of ASM uplifted air from inside of the anticyclone to the global UTLS. Another objective is to sample the chemical content of air processed in the ASM in order to quantify the role of the ASM in transporting chemically active species and short-lived climate forcing agents to the UTLS to determine their impact on stratospheric ozone chemistry and global climate. Third, information is obtained on aerosol size, mass, and chemical composition that is necessary for determining the radiative effects of the ASM to constrain models of aerosol formation and for contrasting the organic-rich ASM UTLS aerosol population with that of the background aerosols. Last, ACCLIP seeks to measure the water vapor distribution associated with the monsoon dynamical structure to evaluate transport across the tropopause and determine the role of the ASM in water vapor transport in the stratosphere.

ACCLIP_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_WB57_Data is the in-situ meteorology and navigational data collection during the Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical & Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP). Data from the Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) and Diode Laser Hygrometer (DLH) is featured in this collection. Data collection for this product is complete. ACCLIP is an international, multi-organizational suborbital campaign that aims to study aerosols and chemical transport that is associated with the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) in the Western Pacific region from 15 July 2022 to 31 August 2022. The ASM is the largest meteorological pattern in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) during the summer and is associated with persistent convection and large anticyclonic flow patterns in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). This leads to significant enhancements in the UTLS of trace species that originate from pollution or biomass burning. Convection connected to the ASM occurs over South, Southeast, and East Asia, a region with complex and rapidly changing emissions due to its high population density and economic growth. Pollution that reaches the UTLS from this region can have significant effects on the climate and chemistry of the atmosphere, making it important to have an accurate representation and understanding of ASM transport, chemical, and microphysical processes for chemistry-climate models to characterize these interactions and for predicting future impacts on climate. The ACCLIP campaign is conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with the primary goal of investigating the impacts of Asian gas and aerosol emissions on global chemistry and climate. The NASA WB-57 and NCAR G-V aircraft are outfitted with state-of-the-art sensors to accomplish this. ACCLIP seeks to address four scientific objectives related to its main goal. The first is to investigate the transport pathways of ASM uplifted air from inside of the anticyclone to the global UTLS. Another objective is to sample the chemical content of air processed in the ASM in order to quantify the role of the ASM in transporting chemically active species and short-lived climate forcing agents to the UTLS to determine their impact on stratospheric ozone chemistry and global climate. Third, information is obtained on aerosol size, mass, and chemical composition that is necessary for determining the radiative effects of the ASM to constrain models of aerosol formation and for contrasting the organic-rich ASM UTLS aerosol population with that of the background aerosols. Last, ACCLIP seeks to measure the water vapor distribution associated with the monsoon dynamical structure to evaluate transport across the tropopause and determine the role of the ASM in water vapor transport in the stratosphere.

ACCLIP_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_WB57_Data is the cloud and aerosol remote sensing data from the Roscoe lidar collected during the Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical & Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP). Data collection for this product is complete.ACCLIP is an international, multi-organizational suborbital campaign that aims to study aerosols and chemical transport that is associated with the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) in the Western Pacific region from 15 July 2022 to 31 August 2022. The ASM is the largest meteorological pattern in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) during the summer and is associated with persistent convection and large anticyclonic flow patterns in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). This leads to significant enhancements in the UTLS of trace species that originate from pollution or biomass burning. Convection connected to the ASM occurs over South, Southeast, and East Asia, a region with complex and rapidly changing emissions due to its high population density and economic growth. Pollution that reaches the UTLS from this region can have significant effects on the climate and chemistry of the atmosphere, making it important to have an accurate representation and understanding of ASM transport, chemical, and microphysical processes for chemistry-climate models to characterize these interactions and for predicting future impacts on climate. The ACCLIP campaign is conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with the primary goal of investigating the impacts of Asian gas and aerosol emissions on global chemistry and climate. The NASA WB-57 and NCAR G-V aircraft are outfitted with state-of-the-art sensors to accomplish this. ACCLIP seeks to address four scientific objectives related to its main goal. The first is to investigate the transport pathways of ASM uplifted air from inside of the anticyclone to the global UTLS. Another objective is to sample the chemical content of air processed in the ASM in order to quantify the role of the ASM in transporting chemically active species and short-lived climate forcing agents to the UTLS to determine their impact on stratospheric ozone chemistry and global climate. Third, information is obtained on aerosol size, mass, and chemical composition that is necessary for determining the radiative effects of the ASM to constrain models of aerosol formation and for contrasting the organic-rich ASM UTLS aerosol population with that of the background aerosols. Last, ACCLIP seeks to measure the water vapor distribution associated with the monsoon dynamical structure to evaluate transport across the tropopause and determine the role of the ASM in water vapor transport in the stratosphere.

ACEPOL Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) Remotely Sensed Data (ACEPOL_AircraftRemoteSensing_CPL_Data) are remotely sensed measurements collected by the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) onboard the ER-2 during ACEPOL. In order to improve our understanding of the effect of aerosols on climate and air quality, measurements of aerosol chemical composition, size distribution, height profile, and optical properties are of crucial importance. In terms of remotely sensed instrumentation, the most extensive set of aerosol properties can be obtained by combining passive multi-angle, multi-spectral measurements of intensity and polarization with active measurements performed by a High Spectral Resolution Lidar. During Fall 2017, the Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) campaign, jointly sponsored by NASA and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), performed aerosol and cloud measurements over the United States from the NASA high altitude ER-2 aircraft. Six instruments were deployed on the aircraft. Four of these instruments were multi-angle polarimeters: the Airborne Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (AirHARP), the Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI), the Airborne Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration (SPEX Airborne) and the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). The other two instruments were lidars: the High Spectral Resolution Lidar 2 (HSRL-2) and the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL). The ACEPOL operation was based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale California, which enabled observations of a wide variety of scene types, including urban, desert, forest, coastal ocean and agricultural areas, with clear, cloudy, polluted and pristine atmospheric conditions. The primary goal of ACEPOL was to assess the capabilities of the different polarimeters for retrieval of aerosol and cloud microphysical and optical parameters, as well as their capabilities to derive aerosol layer height (near-UV polarimetry, O2 A-band). ACEPOL also focused on the development and evaluation of aerosol retrieval algorithms that combine data from both active (lidar) and passive (polarimeter) instruments. ACEPOL data are appropriate for algorithm development and testing, instrument intercomparison, and investigations of active and passive instrument data fusion, which make them valuable resources for remote sensing communities as they prepare for the next generation of spaceborne MAP and lidar missions.

DEVOTE_ AircraftRemoteSensing_UC12_HSRL_Data are remotely sensed data collected by the High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) onboard the UC-12 aircraft as part of the Development and Evaluation of satellite Validation Tools by Experimenters (DEVOTE) sub-orbital project. Data collection is complete. The Development and Evaluation of satellite Validation Tools by Experimenters (DEVOTE) project investigated aerosols and clouds with the specific goals of satellite validation and the improvement of satellite data retrieval algorithms. Conducted in September and October 2011, DEVOTE scientists collected measurements of aerosols and cloud optical and microphysical properties using airborne sensors over ground sites and along satellite overpasses to demonstrate the use of airborne platforms in future scientific measurement campaigns. These measurements were used to validate and improve satellite data retrieval algorithms from missions including the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission and the Aerosol, Cloud, Ecosystems (ACE) Decadal Survey mission. DEVOTE scientists conducted eleven science flights based at the NASA Langley Research Center throughout the campaign. The flight plans were specifically designed to coordinate with CALIPSO satellite overpasses and to fly over the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) ground network sites. The DEVOTE sampling strategy required two aircraft dedicated to remote sensing and in-situ observations, which flew in coordinated flight patterns. This was implemented through use of the NASA UC-12 and the NASA B-200 airborne platforms. The UC-12 had the following remote sensing payload: the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) and High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) instruments. The B-200 had an in-situ payload including the Polarized Imaging Nephelometer (PI-Neph), the Diode Laser Hygrometer (DLH), and Langley Aerosol Research Group Experiment (LARGE) instruments for aerosol microphysical and optical properties. DEVOTE was partly funded through the Hands-On Project Experience (HOPE) initiative. HOPE was a NASA development program designed to offer early career scientist opportunities to design, implement, and analyze small missions offering hands-on experience. Opportunities are increasingly limited for principal investigators, program managers, and system engineers to obtain mission life cycle training, and HOPE provides opportunities to those early on in their career or who are transitioning to a different field. Thus, DEVOTE had a focus on providing hands-on training in the mission life cycle to early career scientists in addition to its primary objective of using cloud and aerosol data collected from airborne sensors to validate and improve satellite data retrieval algorithms. Additionally, the information obtained from DEVOTE research was used to prepare for the implementation of ACE.

SOLVE1_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Lidar_Data is the remotely sensed lidar trace gas data for the DC-8 aircraft collected during the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE). Data were collected by Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) and the Airborne Raman Ozone, Temperature, and Aerosol Lidar (AROTAL). Data collection for this product is complete. The SOLVE campaign was a NASA multi-program effort of the Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP), Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP), Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP) and Earth Observing System (EOS) of NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE). SOLVE’s primary objective was for calibrating and validating the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III satellite measurements, while examining the processes that controlled ozone levels at a mid- to high-latitude range. The major goal of SAGE III was to quantitatively assess ozone loss at high latitudes. SOLVE was a two-phase experiment, the first phase, SOLVE, occurred during the fall of 1999 through the spring of 2000. The second phase, SOLVE II, occurred during the winter of 2003. SOLVE took place in the Arctic high-latitude region during the winter. The polar ozone depletion processes cause by human-produced chlorine and bromine are most active in mid-to-late winter and early spring in the high Arctic. In order to conduct this validation experiment, NASA deployed the NASA ER-2 aircraft and NASA DC-8 aircraft. The ER-2 measured a variety of atmospheric data, including ozone (O3), H2O, CO2, ClONO2, HCl, ClO/BrO, and Cl2O2. The DC-8 aircraft measured ozone, ClO/BrO, and aerosol, among other atmospheric data. SOLVE also utilized balloon platforms, ground-based instruments, and collaborations with the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) FALCON aircraft equipped with the OLEX Lidar to achieve the mission objectives. Overall, the campaign had 28 flights, with SOLVE featuring 17 total flights among the different aircrafts and SOLVE II featuring 11 flights.

ORACLES_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_Data are remotely sensed aerosol and cloud measurements collected onboard the P-3 Orion or ER-2 aircraft during the ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) campaign. These measurements were collected from August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016, August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017 and September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018. ORACLES provides multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments on the planet. The P-3 Orion aircraft was utilized as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds and was supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing during the 2016 campaign. Data collection for this product is complete. Southern Africa produces almost one-third of the Earth’s biomass burning aerosol particles. The ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) experiment was a five year investigation with three intensive observation periods (August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016; August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017; September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018) and was designed to study key processes that determine the climate impacts of African biomass burning aerosols. ORACLES provided multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of the key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments. These inter-model differences in aerosol and cloud distributions, as well as their combined climatic effects in the SE Atlantic are partly due to the persistence of aerosols above clouds. The varying separation of cloud and aerosol layers sampled during ORACLES allow for a process-oriented understanding of how variations in radiative heating profiles impact cloud properties, which is expected to improve model simulations for other remote regions experience long-range aerosol transport above clouds. ORACLES utilized two NASA aircraft, the P-3 and ER-2. The P-3 was used as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds in all three campaigns, supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing in 2016. ER-2 observations will be used to enhance satellite-based remote sensing by resolving variability within a particular scene, and by guiding the development of new and improved remote sensing techniques.

ACTIVATE_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_KingAir_Data is the aerosol and cloud data collected onboard the B-200 King Air aircraft via remote sensing instrumentation during the ACTIVATE project. ACTIVATE is a 5-year NASA Earth-Venture Sub-Orbital field campaign, with a target completion of December 2023. Data collection is still ongoing. Marine boundary layer clouds play a critical role in Earth’s energy balance and water cycle. These clouds cover more than 45% of the ocean surface and exert a net cooling effect. The Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western Atlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) project is a five-year project (January 2019-December 2023) that will provide important globally-relevant data about changes in marine boundary layer cloud systems, atmospheric aerosols and multiple feedbacks that warm or cool the climate. ACTIVATE studies the atmosphere over the western North Atlantic and samples its broad range of aerosol, cloud and meteorological conditions using two aircraft, the UC-12 King Air and HU-25 Falcon. The UC-12 King Air will primarily be used for remote sensing measurements while the HU-25 Falcon will contain a comprehensive instrument payload for detailed in-situ measurements of aerosol, cloud properties, and atmospheric state. A few trace gas measurements will also be onboard the HU-25 Falcon for the measurements of pollution traces, which will contribute to airmass classification analysis. A total of 150 coordinated flights over the western North Atlantic are planned through 6 deployments from 2020-2022. The ACTIVATE science observing strategy intensively targets the shallow cumulus cloud regime and aims to collect sufficient statistics over a broad range of aerosol and weather conditions which enables robust characterization of aerosol-cloud-meteorology interactions. This strategy is implemented by two nominal flight patterns: Statistical Survey and Process Study. The statistical survey pattern involves close coordination between the remote sensing and in-situ aircraft to conduct near coincident sampling at and below cloud base as well as above and within cloud top. The process study pattern involves extensive vertical profiling to characterize the target cloud and surrounding aerosol and meteorological conditions.

ACEPOL High Spectral Resolution Lidar 2 (HSRL-2) Remotely Sensed Data (ACEPOL_AircraftRemoteSensing_HSRL2_Data) are remotely sensed measurements collected by the High-Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2) onboard the ER-2 during ACEPOL. In order to improve our understanding of the effect of aerosols on climate and air quality, measurements of aerosol chemical composition, size distribution, height profile, and optical properties are of crucial importance. In terms of remotely sensed instrumentation, the most extensive set of aerosol properties can be obtained by combining passive multi-angle, multi-spectral measurements of intensity and polarization with active measurements performed by a High Spectral Resolution Lidar. During Fall 2017, the Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) campaign, jointly sponsored by NASA and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), performed aerosol and cloud measurements over the United States from the NASA high altitude ER-2 aircraft. Six instruments were deployed on the aircraft. Four of these instruments were multi-angle polarimeters: the Airborne Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (AirHARP), the Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI), the Airborne Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration (SPEX Airborne) and the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP). The other two instruments were lidars: the High Spectral Resolution Lidar 2 (HSRL-2) and the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL). The ACEPOL operation was based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale California, which enabled observations of a wide variety of scene types, including urban, desert, forest, coastal ocean and agricultural areas, with clear, cloudy, polluted and pristine atmospheric conditions. The primary goal of ACEPOL was to assess the capabilities of the different polarimeters for retrieval of aerosol and cloud microphysical and optical parameters, as well as their capabilities to derive aerosol layer height (near-UV polarimetry, O2 A-band). ACEPOL also focused on the development and evaluation of aerosol retrieval algorithms that combine data from both active (lidar) and passive (polarimeter) instruments. ACEPOL data are appropriate for algorithm development and testing, instrument intercomparison, and investigations of active and passive instrument data fusion, which make them valuable resources for remote sensing communities as they prepare for the next generation of spaceborne MAP and lidar missions.