FIFE: Twin Otter Aircraft Flux-Filtered Boundary Layer Data

NASA's Twin Otter aircraft collected high-frequency (0-5 Hz) flux measurements at altitudes less than 10 meters above ground during the FIFE experiment. Data includes fluxes of sensible and latent heat, momentum, and carbon dioxide, correlated with supporting meteorological and positional parameters. This high-pass filtered dataset was processed with a third-order algorithm set at a 0.012 Hz break point, corresponding to a 5 km wavelength.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-based algorithms for estimating soil moisture and vegetation cover using aircraft-derived flux measurements.
• Modeling surface energy and water balances by analyzing correlated sensible heat, latent heat, and CO2 flux data.
• Studying boundary layer turbulence and greenhouse gas exchange using high-frequency eddy-correlation measurements.
• Calibrating ground-based sensor networks with low-altitude, spatially extensive atmospheric profile data.

Strengths

• Provides high-frequency (0-5 Hz) atmospheric measurements, enabling detailed turbulence analysis.
• Contains data processed via three distinct fluctuation calculation methods (arithmetic mean removal, linear trend removal, high-pass recursive filter).
• Collected at very low altitudes (less than 10 m above ground), capturing fine-scale surface-atmosphere interactions.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts: 'last updated' dates are inconsistent (2026-03-13 on datagov vs. 1989-10-31 on nasa_earthdata).
• Specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided by any source, limiting immediate usability.
• Data appears to be a specific filtered subset (high-pass filtered), so the full raw dataset may not be present.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements gathered via instrumented Twin Otter aircraft using the eddy-correlation method with an inertial platform, accelerometers, and a gust probe.

Freshness

Conflicting: datagov lists 2026-03-13, nasa_earthdata lists 1989-10-31.

Geography

Likely the FIFE (First ISLSCP Field Experiment) study region, but specific location not stated.