Airborne Lidar Profiles of Aerosols and Mixed Layer Heights over North America

Eastern and central North America airborne lidar data from the 2019 ACT-America campaign provides profiles of aerosol optical properties and mixed layer heights. Measurements were collected by the High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) instrument on a C-130 aircraft during June and July 2019. The dataset was produced by the ORNL_CLOUD organization.

Use Cases

• Analyze aerosol optical property profiles at 532 nm and 1064 nm wavelengths to study particulate matter distribution.
• Model boundary layer processes using mixed layer height distributions derived from lidar backscatter.
• Correlate tropospheric methane column measurements with flight navigation parameters for emission source studies.
• Validate satellite aerosol retrievals using high-resolution vertical profiles sampled at 1.25 m intervals.

Strengths

• High vertical resolution of 1.25 meters for detailed atmospheric profiling.
• Data collected during a dedicated field campaign (ACT-America) over multiple regions.
• Includes multiple derived products: aerosol optical properties, mixed layer heights, and methane columns.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to two months in 2019, not a continuous time series.
• Geographic coverage is restricted to specific flight paths over eastern and central North America.
• Sample size and total number of flight hours or profiles are not specified.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata, provided by ORNL_CLOUD.

Collection Method

Airborne measurements from the HALO Differential Absorption Lidar and High Spectral Resolution Lidar onboard a C-130 aircraft.

Time Range

June and July 2019.

Freshness

Data is from 2019 and was last updated in July 2019; it is a static campaign dataset.

Geography

Eastern and central North America, with flights based from Shreveport, Louisiana; Lincoln, Nebraska; and NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.