ACEPOL Polarimeter Data for Aerosol and Cloud Characterization

Six instruments, including the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP), collected aerosol and cloud measurements during the Fall 2017 ACEPOL campaign. The NASA ER-2 aircraft captured multi-angle, multi-spectral intensity and polarization data over diverse U.S. landscapes. This dataset supports the assessment of polarimeter capabilities for retrieving detailed aerosol and cloud microphysical parameters.

Use Cases

• Retrieving aerosol optical properties from multi-angle polarization measurements.
• Assessing cloud microphysical parameters using passive polarimetric data.
• Comparing aerosol retrieval algorithms across different polarimeter instruments like AirHARP, AirMSPI, SPEX Airborne, and RSP.
• Studying atmospheric conditions over varied terrains including urban, desert, forest, and coastal areas.

Strengths

• Data was collected by six coordinated instruments during a dedicated campaign, enabling multi-instrument comparison.
• Observations cover a wide variety of scene types and atmospheric conditions over the United States.
• The campaign was jointly sponsored by NASA and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON).

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, reporting both 2017-11-09 and 2026-03-13.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC).

Collection Method

Remotely sensed measurements collected by the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) onboard the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft.

Time Range

Fall 2017

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:13:27.766650

Geography

United States, including urban, desert, forest, coastal ocean, and agricultural areas.