ACTIVATE: MERRA-2 Variables Along HU-25 Flight Tracks, 2020-2022

A five-year NASA Earth-Venture Sub-Orbital field campaign from 2020 to 2022 provides data about marine boundary layer cloud systems and atmospheric aerosols. The ACTIVATE project sampled the atmosphere over the western North Atlantic using two aircraft, conducting 150 coordinated flights through six deployments. This dataset contains MERRA-2 variables sampled along the HU-25 Falcon flight tracks.

Use Cases

• Characterizing aerosol-cloud-meteorology interactions based on intensive sampling of the shallow cumulus cloud regime.
• Analyzing pollution traces for airmass classification based on trace gas measurements onboard the HU-25 Falcon.
• Studying the net cooling effect of marine clouds based on data covering more than 45% of the ocean surface.
• Comparing remote sensing and in-situ measurements based on coordinated sampling from two aircraft.
• Profiling vertical atmospheric conditions based on the Process Study flight pattern involving extensive vertical profiling.

Strengths

• Data from a five-year NASA Earth-Venture Sub-Orbital field campaign.
• 150 coordinated flights over the western North Atlantic occurred through 6 deployments.
• Marine boundary layer clouds cover more than 45% of the ocean surface, providing a globally-relevant scope.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• File formats include BIN and ISO, which may require specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Sampled along HU-25 flight tracks during coordinated aircraft deployments.

Time Range

2020-2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 06:53:28.769934; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Western North Atlantic Ocean