AEOLUS-CALVAL-DAWN_DC8_1 is the Aeolus CalVal DAWN (Doppler Aerosol WiNd) Lidar Wind Profiles data product. Data was collected using the DAWN instrument on the Douglas (DC-8) Aircraft. Data collection for this product is complete. NASA conducted an airborne campaign from 17 April to 30 April 2019 to: 1) demonstrate the performance of the Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN) and High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) instruments across a range of aerosol, cloud, and weather conditions; 2) compare these measurements with the European Space Agency Aeolus mission to gain an initial perspective of Aeolus performance in preparation for a future international Aeolus Cal/Val airborne campaign; and 3) demonstrate how weather processes can be resolved and better understood through simultaneous airborne wind, water vapor (WV), and aerosol profile observations, coupled with numerical model and other remote sensing observations. Five NASA DC-8 aircraft flights, comprising 46 flight hours, were conducted over the Eastern Pacific and Southwest U.S., based out of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA and Kona, HI. Yankee Environmental Systems, Inc High Definition Sounding System (HDSS) eXpendable Digitial Dropsondes (XDD) were used to validate the DAWN and Aeolus wind observations. The LaRC Diode Laser Hygrometer instrument, which was integrated on the DC-8 in preparation for another NASA airborne campaign, provided in-situ WV measurements used during one flight to validate HALO and dropsonde WV profile products.

CPEXAW-DAWN_DC8_1 are the Doppler Aerosol WiNd lidar (DAWN) image and NetCDF data files collected during the Convective Processes Experiment - Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) onboard the DC-8 aircraft. Data collection for this product is complete.The Convective Processes Experiment – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) campaign was a joint effort between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) with the primary goal of conducting a post-launch calibration and validation activities of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission-Aeolus (ADM-AEOLUS) Earth observation wind Lidar satellite in St. Croix. CPEX-AW is a follow-on to the Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX) field campaign which took place in the summer of 2017. In addition to joint calibration/validation of ADM-AEOLUS, CPEX-AW studied the dynamics related to the Saharan Air Layer, African Easterly Waves and Jets, Tropical Easterly Jet, and deep convection in the InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). CPEX-AW science goals include:• Better understanding interactions of convective cloud systems and tropospheric winds as part of the joint NASA-ESA Aeolus Cal/Val effort over the tropical Atlantic;• Observing the vertical structure and variability of the marine boundary layer in relation to initiation and lifecycle of the convective cloud systems, convective processes (e.g., cold pools), and environmental conditions within and across the ITCZ;• Investigating how the African easterly waves and dry air and dust associated with Sahara Air Layer control the convectively suppressed and active periods of the ITCZ;• Investigating interactions of wind, aerosol, clouds, and precipitation and effects on long range dust transport and air quality over the western Atlantic.In order to successfully achieve the objectives of the campaign, NASA deployed its DC-8 aircraft equipped with an Airborne Third Generation Precipitation Radar (APR-3), Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN), High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO), High Altitude Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR), and dropsondes. This campaign aims to provide useful material to atmospheric scientists, meteorologists, lidar experts, air quality experts, professors, and students. The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) archives the dropsonde, HALO, and DAWN data products for CPEX-AW. For additional datasets please visit the Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center (GHRC).

The RI CPEX dataset consists of data collected from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager (GMI), and Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) onboard satellites measuring atmospheric and surface conditions. These data were gathered during the Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX) field campaign. CPEX collected data to help answer questions about convective storm initiation, organization, growth, and dissipation in the North Atlantic-Gulf of America-Caribbean Oceanic region during the early summer of 2017. These data files are available from May 24, 2017, through July 16, 2017, in netCDF-3 format.

CPEXAW-ADM-Aeolus_1 is the ESA ADM-Aeolus Datasets for the Convective Processes Experiment - Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) sub-orbital campaign. Data collection for this product is complete.The Convective Processes Experiment – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) campaign was a joint effort between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) with the primary goal of conducting a post-launch calibration and validation activities of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission-Aeolus (ADM-AEOLUS) Earth observation wind Lidar satellite in St. Croix. CPEX-AW is a follow-on to the Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX) field campaign which took place in the summer of 2017. In addition to joint calibration/validation of ADM-AEOLUS, CPEX-AW studied the dynamics related to the Saharan Air Layer, African Easterly Waves and Jets, Tropical Easterly Jet, and deep convection in the InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). CPEX-AW science goals include:• Better understanding interactions of convective cloud systems and tropospheric winds as part of the joint NASA-ESA Aeolus Cal/Val effort over the tropical Atlantic;• Observing the vertical structure and variability of the marine boundary layer in relation to initiation and lifecycle of the convective cloud systems, convective processes (e.g., cold pools), and environmental conditions within and across the ITCZ;• Investigating how the African easterly waves and dry air and dust associated with Sahara Air Layer control the convectively suppressed and active periods of the ITCZ;• Investigating interactions of wind, aerosol, clouds, and precipitation and effects on long range dust transport and air quality over the western Atlantic.In order to successfully achieve the objectives of the campaign, NASA deployed its DC-8 aircraft equipped with an Airborne Third Generation Precipitation Radar (APR-3), Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN), High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO), High Altitude Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR), and dropsondes. This campaign aims to provide useful material to atmospheric scientists, meteorologists, lidar experts, air quality experts, professors, and students. The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) archives the dropsonde, HALO, and DAWN data products for CPEX-AW. For additional datasets please visit the Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center (GHRC).

CPEXAW-Dropsondes_1 is the dropsonde data files collected during the Convective Processes Experiment - Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW). Data collection for this product is complete.The Convective Processes Experiment – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) campaign was a joint effort between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) with the primary goal of conducting a post-launch calibration and validation activities of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission-Aeolus (ADM-AEOLUS) Earth observation wind Lidar satellite in St. Croix. CPEX-AW is a follow-on to the Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX) field campaign which took place in the summer of 2017. In addition to joint calibration/validation of ADM-AEOLUS, CPEX-AW studied the dynamics related to the Saharan Air Layer, African Easterly Waves and Jets, Tropical Easterly Jet, and deep convection in the InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). CPEX-AW science goals include:• Better understanding interactions of convective cloud systems and tropospheric winds as part of the joint NASA-ESA Aeolus Cal/Val effort over the tropical Atlantic;• Observing the vertical structure and variability of the marine boundary layer in relation to initiation and lifecycle of the convective cloud systems, convective processes (e.g., cold pools), and environmental conditions within and across the ITCZ;• Investigating how the African easterly waves and dry air and dust associated with Sahara Air Layer control the convectively suppressed and active periods of the ITCZ;• Investigating interactions of wind, aerosol, clouds, and precipitation and effects on long range dust transport and air quality over the western Atlantic.In order to successfully achieve the objectives of the campaign, NASA deployed its DC-8 aircraft equipped with an Airborne Third Generation Precipitation Radar (APR-3), Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN), High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO), High Altitude Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR), and dropsondes. This campaign aims to provide useful material to atmospheric scientists, meteorologists, lidar experts, air quality experts, professors, and students. The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) archives the dropsonde, HALO, and DAWN data products for CPEX-AW. For additional datasets please visit the Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center (GHRC).

CPEXCV-Dropsondes_1 is the dropsonde data files collected during the Convective Processes Experiment - Cabo Verde (CPEX-CV). Data collection for this product is complete.Seeking to better understand atmospheric processes in regions with little data, the Convective Processes Experiment – Cabo Verde (CPEX-CV) campaign conducted by NASA is a continuation of the CPEX – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) campaign that took place between August to September 2021. The campaign will take place between 1-30 September 2022 and will operate out of Sal Island, Cabo Verde with the primary goal of investigating atmospheric dynamics, marine boundary layer properties, convection, the dust-laden Saharan Air Layer, and their interactions across various spatial scales to improve understanding and predictability of process-level lifecycles in the data-sparse tropical East Atlantic region.CPEX-CV will work towards its goal by addressing four main science objectives. The first goal is to improve understanding of the interaction between large-scale environmental forcings such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), Saharan Air Layer, African easterly waves, and mid-level African easterly jet, and the lifecycle and properties of convective cloud systems, including tropical cyclone precursors, in the tropical East Atlantic region. Next, observations will be made about how local kinematic and thermodynamic conditions, including the vertical structure and variability of the marine boundary layer, relate to the initiation and lifecycle of convective cloud systems and their processes. Third, CPEX-CV will investigate how dynamical and convective processes affect size dependent Saharan dust vertical structure, long-range Saharan dust transport, and boundary layer exchange pathways. The last objective will be to assess the impact of CPEX-CV observations of atmospheric winds, thermodynamics, clouds, and aerosols on the prediction of tropical Atlantic weather systems and validate and interpret spaceborne remote sensors that provide similar measurements.To achieve these objectives, the NASA DC-8 aircraft will be deployed with remote sensing instruments and dropsondes that will allow for the measurement of tropospheric aerosols, winds, temperature, water vapor, and precipitation. Instruments onboard the aircraft include the Airborne Third Generation Precipitation Radar (APR-3), lidars such as the Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN), High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO), High Altitude Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR), Advanced Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS) dropsonde system, Cloud Aerosol and Precipitation Spectrometer (CAPS), and the Airborne In-situ and Radio Occultation (AIRO) instrument. Measurements taken by CPEX-CV will assist in moving science forward from previous CPEX and CPEX-AW missions, the calibration and validation of satellite measurements, and the development of airborne sensors, especially those with potential for satellite deployment.

Aeolus-CalVal-Dropsondes_DC8_1 is the Aeolus CalVal Dropsonde Profiles data product. Data was collected using Dropsondes from the Douglas (DC-8) Aircraft. Data collection for this product is complete. NASA conducted an airborne campaign from 17 April to 30 April 2019 to: 1) demonstrate the performance of the Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN) and High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) instruments across a range of aerosol, cloud, and weather conditions; 2) compare these measurements with the European Space Agency Aeolus mission to gain an initial perspective of Aeolus performance in preparation for a future international Aeolus Cal/Val airborne campaign; and 3) demonstrate how weather processes can be resolved and better understood through simultaneous airborne wind, water vapor (WV), and aerosol profile observations, coupled with numerical model and other remote sensing observations. Five NASA DC-8 aircraft flights, comprising 46 flight hours, were conducted over the Eastern Pacific and Southwest U.S., based out of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA and Kona, HI. Yankee Environmental Systems, Inc High Definition Sounding System (HDSS) eXpendable Digitial Dropsondes (XDD) were used to validate the DAWN and Aeolus wind observations. The LaRC Diode Laser Hygrometer instrument, which was integrated on the DC-8 in preparation for another NASA airborne campaign, provided in-situ WV measurements used during one flight to validate HALO and dropsonde WV profile products.

PolarWindsI_DAWN_KingAirUC-12B is the Polar Winds I - Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) - KingAirUC-12B data product. Data for this was collected using the DAWN instrument flown on the NASA Langley Beechcraft UC-12B Huron aircraft. Data collection for this product is complete. Polar Winds I was based in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland and flew DAWN on board the NASA King Air UC-12B during Oct-Nov 2014 while Polar Winds II was based in Keflavik, Iceland and utilized the NASA DC-8 aircraft to fly DAWN and Dropsondes over the Arctic in May 2015. In total, twenty-four individual missions with over 80 hours of research flights were flown in the Arctic region near Greenland and Iceland during Polar Winds.The focus instrument for the wind measurements taken over the Arctic during Polar Winds was the DAWN airborne wind lidar. At a wavelength of 2.05 microns and at 250 mj per pulse, DAWN is the most powerful airborne Doppler Wind Lidar available today for airborne missions. DAWN has previously been flown on the NASA DC-8 during the 2010 Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) campaign and on the NASA UC-12 for wind field characterization off the coast of Virginia. In addition to DAWN, Polar Winds utilized the High Definition Sounding System (HDSS) dropsonde delivery system developed by Yankee Environmental Services to drop almost 100 dropsondes during Polar Wind II to obtain additional high-resolution vertical wind profiles during most missions. These dropsondes also provided needed calibration/validation for the much newer DAWN measurements.Beginning in the fall of 2014, NASA sponsored two airborne field campaigns, collectively called Polar Winds, designed to fly the Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) lidar and other instruments to take airborne wind measurements of the Arctic atmosphere, specifically over and off the coasts of Greenland during Oct-Nov 2014 and May 2015. In particular, Polar Winds conducted a series of science experiments focusing on the measurement and analyses of lower tropospheric winds and aerosols associated with coastal katabatic flows, barrier winds, the Greenland Tip Jet, boundary layer circulations such as rolls and OLEs (Organized Large Eddies), and near surface winds over open water, transitional ice zones and the Greenland Ice Cap.

FIREXAQ_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_ER2_Data_1 are meteorological and navigational data collected onboard the Earth Resources-2 (ER-2) aircraft during the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments Experiment - Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) Campaign. Completed during summer 2019, FIREX-AQ used a combination of instrumented airplanes, satellites, and ground-based instrumentation. Specifically, data was collected by the NASA Airborne Science Data Telemetry (NASDAT) System on the ER-2 platform. Data collection for this product is complete. Completed during summer 2019, FIREX-AQ utilized a combination of instrumented airplanes, satellites, and ground-based instrumentation. Detailed fire plume sampling was carried out by the NASA DC-8 aircraft, which had a comprehensive instrument payload capable of measuring over 200 trace gas species, as well as aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties. The DC-8 aircraft completed 23 science flights, including 15 flights from Boise, Idaho and 8 flights from Salina, Kansas. NASA’s ER-2 completed 11 flights, partially in support of the FIREX-AQ effort. The ER-2 payload was made up of 8 satellite analog instruments and provided critical fire information, including fire temperature, fire plume heights, and vegetation/soil albedo information. NOAA provided the NOAA-CHEM Twin Otter and the NOAA-MET Twin Otter aircraft to measure chemical processing in the lofted plumes of Western wildfires. The NOAA-CHEM Twin Otter focused on nighttime plume chemistry, from which data is archived at the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC). The NOAA-MET Twin Otter collected measurements of air movements at fire boundaries with the goal of understanding the local weather impacts of fires and the movement patterns of fires. NOAA-MET Twin Otter data will be archived at the ASDC in the future. Additionally, a ground-based station in McCall, Idaho and several mobile laboratories provided in-situ measurements of aerosol microphysical and optical properties, aerosol chemical compositions, and trace gas species. The FIREX-AQ campaign was a NOAA/NASA interagency intensive study of North American fires to gain an understanding on the integrated impact of the fire emissions on the tropospheric chemistry and composition and to assess the satellite’s capability for detecting fires and estimating fire emissions. The overarching goal of FIREX-AQ was to provide measurements of trace gas and aerosol emissions for wildfires and prescribed fires in great detail, relate them to fuel and fire conditions at the point of emission, characterize the conditions relating to plume rise, and follow plumes downwind to understand chemical transformation and air quality impacts.

The St. Croix Radiosondes CPEX-AW dataset consists of atmospheric pressure, atmospheric temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction measurements. These measurements were taken from the DFM-09 Radiosonde instrument during the Convective Processes Experiment – Aerosols & Winds (CPEX-AW) field campaign. CPEX-AW was a joint effort between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) with the primary goal of conducting a post-launch calibration and validation activities of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission-Aeolus (ADM-AEOLUS) Earth observation wind Lidar satellite in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Data are available from August 19, 2021 through September 14, 2021 in netCDF and ASCII formats, with associated browse imagery in PNG format.