The CAMEX-4 DC-8 Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) was collected by the MMS, which consists of three major systems: an air-motion sensing system to measure air velocity with respect to the aircraft, an aircraft-motion sensing system to measure the aircraft velocity with respect to the Earth, and a data acquisition system to sample, process, and record the measured quantities. The MMS data was collected during the CAMEX-4 campaign to study physical properties of atmospheric temperature.

The NAMMA DC-8 Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) dataset used the MMS, which consists of three major systems: an air-motion sensing system to measure air velocity with respect to the aircraft, an aircraft-motion sensing system to measure the aircraft velocity with respect to the Earth, and a data acquisition system to sample, process, and record the measured quantities. The air-motion system consists of two airflow-angle probes, three total temperature probes each with a different response time, a pitot-static pressure probe, and a dedicated static pressure system. All probes and sensors are judiciously located at specific positions of the fuselage. The aircraft-motion sensing system consists of an embedded GPS ring laser inertial navigation system, and a multiple-antenna GPS attitude reference system. Customized software was developed to control, sample, and process all sensors and hardware. These data files were generated during support of the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) campaign, a field research investigation sponsored by the Science Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This mission was based in the Cape Verde Islands, 350 miles off the coast of Senegal in west Africa. Commencing in August 2006, NASA scientists employed surface observation networks and aircraft to characterize the evolution and structure of African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and Mesoscale Convective Systems over continental western Africa, and their associated impacts on regional water and energy budgets.

The GRIP DC-8 Meteorological measurement System (MMS) dataset was collected by the Meteorological Measurement System (MMS), which provides high-resolution, accurate meteorological parameters (pressure, temperature, turbulence index, and the 3-dimensional wind vector). The MMS hardware consists of 3 major systems: an air-motion sensing system to measure air velocity with respect to the aircraft, an aircraft-motion sensing system to measure the aircraft velocity with respect to the Earth, and a data acquisition system to sample, process, and record the measured quantities. In addition to making the in flight measurements, a major and necessary step is the post mission systematic calibration and data processing. The primary data set consists of 1 Hz meteorological data (P, T, 3D winds). The secondary data set at 20 Hz includes the meteorological data and additional parameters such as Potential-Temperature; True-Air-Speed; aircraft GPS position, velocities, attitudes, acceleration and air flow data (angle-of-attack, sideslip) from August 10, 2010 through September 25, 2010. The Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment was a NASA Earth science field experiment. The major goal was to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes. NASA used the DC-8 aircraft, the WB-57 aircraft and the Global Hawk Unmanned Airborne System (UAS), configured with a suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments that were used to observe and characterize the lifecycle of hurricanes.

The CAMEX-4 Aerosonde dataset contains temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure measurements collected to study the boundary layer below levels where traditional hurricane reconnasissance aircaft fly. The Aerosonde is an unmanned aerial vehicle with a wingspan of 2.9 meters (~9 feet) weighing approximately 14 kg (~31 lbs). Carrying a payload of air pressure, temperature and humidity probes, the aircraft can fly at altitudes from near the surface to 21,000 feet at speeds of 50-95 mph for periods of up to 30 hours. Controlled by dual computers and navigated by GPS, the Aerosonde is designed to economically collect meteorological data over a wide area.

The Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) was used to make atmospheric temperature and moisture retrievals. AERI provides absolutely calibrated radiances which can be used for forward calculation comparisons of radiosonde and LIDAR (for CAMEX-3, the SRL) profiles and provides a reference to the airborne and ground based remote sensing instruments. Additionally, AERI radiances contain valuable temperature and water vapor information which can be used to retrieve planetary boundary layer thermodynamics. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Space Science and Engineering Center was responsible for the AERI data collection during CAMEX-3 campaign.

The CAMEX-3 Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS) dataset was collected by the Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS), which is a multispectral scanner which measures reflected radiation from the Earth's surface and clouds in eight visible/near-infrared bands, and thermal emission from the Earth' surface, clouds, and atmospheric constituents (primarily water vapor) in four infrared bands. The 5.0 mRa aperture of MAMS produces an instantaneous field-of-view (IFOV) resolution of 100 m at nadir from the nominal ER-2 altitude of 20 km. The width of the entire cross path field-of-view scanned by the sensor is 37 km, thereby providing detailed resolution of atmospheric and surface features across the swath width and along the aircraft flight track. For clouds and thunderstorm features the IFOV decreases with increasing cloud height by a factor of (Z-20)/20, where Z is the cloud height in kilometers.

The CAMEX-4 DC-8 Information Collection and Transmission System dataset was collected by the Information Collection and Transmission System (ICATS), which is designed to: 1) Interface and process avionics and environmental paramaters from the Navigational Management System, GPS, Central Air Data Computer, Embedded GPS/INS, and analog voltage sources from aircraft and experimenters, 2) Furnish engineering unit values of selected parameters and computed functions for real-time video display, and archive ASCII data at experimenter stations, 3) Archive engineering unit values of 'Appendix A' (to the ICATS document included with dataset documentation) on data storage for post flight retrieval.