Aeolus-CalVal-HALO_DC8: Airborne Lidar Profiles for Satellite Validation

From 17 April to 30 April 2019, NASA conducted a five-flight airborne campaign using the High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) instrument aboard a DC-8 aircraft. The dataset contains aerosol and water vapor profiles and images, collected to validate the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite mission and demonstrate the performance of airborne wind, water vapor, and aerosol lidar instruments. Flights, totaling 46 hours, were based out of Palmdale, CA and Kona, HI, covering the Eastern Pacific and Southwest U.S.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-based wind observations from the ESA Aeolus mission using airborne lidar profiles.
• Assessing the performance of the Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN) and HALO instruments across varied atmospheric conditions.
• Studying weather processes through simultaneous airborne wind, water vapor, and aerosol profile observations.
• Comparing in-situ water vapor measurements from the LaRC Diode Laser Hygrometer with remote sensing profile products.

Strengths

• Data collection is explicitly stated as complete, providing a finalized product for analysis.
• Campaign involved 46 flight hours across five dedicated NASA DC-8 flights, indicating a substantial observational effort.
• Includes validation data from multiple sources, such as expendable dropsondes (XDD) and an in-situ hygrometer, supporting data quality assessment.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are unknown, limiting understanding of the dataset's internal organization.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between platforms (2019-04-30 on nasa_earthdata vs. 2026-03-13 on datagov).
• The dataset's size and row count are not provided, making it difficult to gauge its scale.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Data was collected using the High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) instrument on the NASA DC-8 aircraft during a dedicated calibration/validation campaign.

Time Range

17 April 2019 to 30 April 2019

Freshness

2026-03-13 16:09:53.492437 (from datagov, though this conflicts with the campaign end date)

Geography

Eastern Pacific and Southwest U.S., with operations based out of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA and Kona, HI.