MACPEX_TraceGas_AircraftInSitu_WB57_Data is the in-situ trace gas data collection during the Mid-latitude Airborne Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX). Data was collected by the NOAA O3 Photometer (NOAA O3), the NOAA UAS O3 Photometer (UASO3), and the Aircraft Laser Infrared Absorption Spectrometer (ALIAS). Data collection for this product is complete.The MACPEX mission was an airborne field campaign that deployed from March 18th to April 26th, 2011. MACPEX sought to investigate cirrus cloud properties and the processes that affect their impact on radiation. The campaign conducted science flights using the NASA WB-57 aircraft based out of Ellington Airfield, Texas. Science flights were focused on the central North America vicinity, with an emphasis over the Southern Great Plains atmospheric observatory (established by the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility) site in Oklahoma. MACPEX was a joint effort between NASA, the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and several U.S. universities.The WB-57 contained a comprehensive instrument payload for detailed in-situ measurements that were targeted to answer MACPEX’s four major science questions. The first science question that MACPEX explored was how prevalent the smaller crystals are in cirrus clouds, and how important they are for extinction, radiative forcing, and radiative heating. MACPEX also sought to understand how cirrus microphysical properties (particle size distribution, ice crystal habit, extinction, ice water content) are related to the dynamical forcing driving cloud formation. Researchers also investigated how cirrus microphysical properties are related to aerosol loading and composition, including the abundance of heterogeneous ice nuclei. Lastly, this campaign examined how cirrus microphysical properties evolve through the lifecycles of the clouds, and the role radiatively driven dynamical motions play.In addition to the in-situ measurements, four flights were coordinated to validate the NASA EOS/A-Train satellite observations. NOAA also launched balloon sondes and ozonesondes, which were used to acquire data about the frost point and water vapor in the atmosphere. The balloon sondes and ozonesondes also acquired pressure, temperature, and humidity data, as well as measurements regarding the ozone in the atmosphere.

VIRGAS_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_Data are the meteorology and navigational data collected during the Volcano-plume Investigation Readiness and Gas-phase and Aerosol Sulfur (VIRGAS) sub-orbital campaign. Data from the Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) are featured in this data product and data collection is complete.Conducted in October 2015, the Volcano-plume Investigation Readiness and Gas-phase and Aerosol Sulfur (VIRGAS) field campaign had a primary objective to test instrument capability and readiness for deployment in the investigation of major volcanic eruptions. VIRGAS aimed to enable researchers to assess the impact of these volcanic eruptions on stratospheric aerosols and the ozone layer. As sulfur dioxide is a characteristic component of volcanic emissions, the LIF SO2 instrument was of critical importance to VIRGAS. VIRGAS was conducted in one deployment consisting of six science flights based from Houston, TX. The current available data products are from the NOAA LASER-Induced Fluorescence (LIF SO2) instrument, the NOAA Unmanned Aircraft System O3 Photometer (UASO3), and NASA’s Meteorological Measurement System (MMS). The ASDC houses data including 1 Hz SO2 data from seven flights, 1 Hz O3 data from ten flights, and 1 Hz and 20 Hz data for temperature, pressure, and 3-D winds from 5 flights.VIRGAS was led by Dr. Karen Rosenlof and Dr. Ru-Shan Gao of the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (NOAA CSL), as well as by Dr. Paul Newman of NASA Godard Space Flight Center’s Earth Sciences Division. Other participants include researchers from NASA Ames Research Center, the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI), and the University of Miami.

MACPEX_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_WB57_Data is the in-situ aerosol data collected during the Mid-latitude Airborne Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX). Data was collected by the Electron Microscope Ice Residual Impactor (EMIRI), Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectroscopy (PALMS), Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2), Focused Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer (FCAS), FCAS II, and the Nuclei-Mode Aerosol Size Spectrometer II (NMASS II). Data collection for this product is complete.The MACPEX mission was an airborne field campaign that deployed from March 18th to April 26th, 2011. MACPEX sought to investigate cirrus cloud properties and the processes that affect their impact on radiation. The campaign conducted science flights using the NASA WB-57 aircraft based out of Ellington Airfield, Texas. Science flights were focused on the central North America vicinity, with an emphasis over the Southern Great Plains atmospheric observatory (established by the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility) site in Oklahoma. MACPEX was a joint effort between NASA, the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and several U.S. universities.The WB-57 contained a comprehensive instrument payload for detailed in-situ measurements that were targeted to answer MACPEX’s four major science questions. The first science question that MACPEX explored was how prevalent the smaller crystals are in cirrus clouds, and how important they are for extinction, radiative forcing, and radiative heating. MACPEX also sought to understand how cirrus microphysical properties (particle size distribution, ice crystal habit, extinction, ice water content) are related to the dynamical forcing driving cloud formation. Researchers also investigated how cirrus microphysical properties are related to aerosol loading and composition, including the abundance of heterogeneous ice nuclei. Lastly, this campaign examined how cirrus microphysical properties evolve through the lifecycles of the clouds, and the role radiatively driven dynamical motions play.In addition to the in-situ measurements, four flights were coordinated to validate the NASA EOS/A-Train satellite observations. NOAA also launched balloon sondes and ozonesondes, which were used to acquire data about the frost point and water vapor in the atmosphere. The balloon sondes and ozonesondes also acquired pressure, temperature, and humidity data, as well as measurements regarding the ozone in the atmosphere.

ARCTAS_AerosolTraceGas_AircraftInSitu_DC8_Data is the in-situ aerosol trace gas data collected by the DC-8 aircraft during the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft & Satellites (ARCTAS) mission. Data was collected by ion chromatographs, gamma ray spectrometers, and alpha-spectrometers. Data collection for this product is complete.The Arctic is a critical region in understanding climate change. The responses of the Arctic to environmental perturbations such as warming, pollution, and emissions from forest fires in boreal Eurasia and North America include key processes such as the melting of ice sheets and permafrost, a decrease in snow albedo, and the deposition of halogen radical chemistry from sea salt aerosols to ice. ARCTAS was a field campaign that explored environmental processes related to the high degree of climate sensitivity in the Arctic. ARCTAS was part of NASA’s contribution to the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Polar Study using Aircraft, Remote Sensing, Surface Measurements, and Models of Climate, Chemistry, Aerosols, and Transport (POLARCAT) Experiment for the International Polar Year 2007-2008.ARCTAS had four primary objectives. The first was to understand long-range transport of pollution to the Arctic. Pollution brought to the Arctic from northern mid-latitude continents has environmental consequences, such as modifying regional and global climate and affecting the ozone budget. Prior to ARCTAS, these pathways remained largely uncertain. The second objective was to understand the atmospheric composition and climate implications of boreal forest fires; the smoke emissions from which act as an atmospheric perturbation to the Arctic by impacting the radiation budget and cloud processes and contributing to the production of tropospheric ozone. The third objective was to understand aerosol radiative forcing from climate perturbations, as the Arctic is an important place for understanding radiative forcing due to the rapid pace of climate change in the region and its unique radiative environment. The fourth objective of ARCTAS was to understand chemical processes with a focus on ozone, aerosols, mercury, and halogens. Additionally, ARCTAS sought to develop capabilities for incorporating data from aircraft and satellites related to pollution and related environmental perturbations in the Arctic into earth science models, expanding the potential for those models to predict future environmental change.ARCTAS consisted of two, three-week aircraft deployments conducted in April and July 2008. The spring deployment sought to explore arctic haze, stratosphere-troposphere exchange, and sunrise photochemistry. April was chosen for the deployment phase due to historically being the peak in the seasonal accumulation of pollution from northern mid-latitude continents in the Arctic. The summer deployment sought to understand boreal forest fires at their most active seasonal phase in addition to stratosphere-troposphere exchange and summertime photochemistry.During ARCTAS, three NASA aircrafts, the DC-8, P-3B, and BE-200, conducted measurements and were equipped with suites of in-situ and remote sensing instrumentation. Airborne data was used in conjunction with satellite observations from AURA, AQUA, CloudSat, PARASOL, CALIPSO, and MISR.The ASDC houses ARCTAS aircraft data, along with data related to MISR, a satellite instrument aboard the Terra satellite which provides measurements that provide information about the Earth’s environment and climate.

SOLVE1_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data is the remotely sensed trace gas data for the DC-8 aircraft collected during the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE). Data were collected by the Airborne Submillimeter Radiometer (ASUR) instrument. 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.

ACCLIP_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_WB57_Data is the in-situ aerosol data collected during the Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical & Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP). Data from the Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry - Next Generation (PALMS-NG), Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2), Nucleation-Mode Aerosol Size Spectrometer (N-MASS), Printed Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS), and the Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer (UHSAS) 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.

DISCOVERAQ_Maryland_TraceGas_AircraftInSitu_P3B_Data contains in situ trace gas data collected onboard the P-3B aircraft during NASA's DISCOVER-AQ field study. Measurements were obtained using a variety of instrumentation, including DACOM, TD-LIF, DFGAS, LICOR-6252, and PTR-MS. This data product contains only data from the Maryland deployment and data collection is complete.Understanding the factors that contribute to near surface pollution is difficult using only satellite-based observations. The incorporation of surface-level measurements from aircraft and ground-based platforms provides the crucial information necessary to validate and expand upon the use of satellites in understanding near surface pollution. Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) was a four-year campaign conducted in collaboration between NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Ames Research Center, and multiple universities to improve the use of satellites to monitor air quality for public health and environmental benefit. Through targeted airborne and ground-based observations, DISCOVER-AQ enabled more effective use of current and future satellites to diagnose ground level conditions influencing air quality.DISCOVER-AQ employed two NASA aircraft, the P-3B and King Air, with the P-3B completing in-situ spiral profiling of the atmosphere (aerosol properties, meteorological variables, and trace gas species). The King Air conducted both passive and active remote sensing of the atmospheric column extending below the aircraft to the surface. Data from an existing network of surface air quality monitors, AERONET sun photometers, Pandora UV/vis spectrometers and model simulations were also collected. Further, DISCOVER-AQ employed many surface monitoring sites, with measurements being made on the ground, in conjunction with the aircraft. The B200 and P-3B conducted flights in Baltimore-Washington, D.C. in 2011, Houston, TX in 2013, San Joaquin Valley, CA in 2013, and Denver, CO in 2014. These regions were targeted due to being in violation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).The first objective of DISCOVER-AQ was to determine and investigate correlations between surface measurements and satellite column observations for the trace gases ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and formaldehyde (CH2O) to understand how satellite column observations can diagnose surface conditions. DISCOVER-AQ also had the objective of using surface-level measurements to understand how satellites measure diurnal variability and to understand what factors control diurnal variability. Lastly, DISCOVER-AQ aimed to explore horizontal scales of variability, such as regions with steep gradients and urban plumes.