Airborne Carbon Flux Measurements at Three Forest Sites

AirMOSS project data provides high-frequency airborne measurements of carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes from 26 flights over Duke, Harvard, and Howland Forest sites. The dataset, produced by NASA and Purdue University, includes estimates of surface CO2 flux, sensible and latent heat fluxes, their uncertainties, and wind data. Measurements were collected during summer campaigns from 2012 to 2014.

Use Cases

• Modeling net ecosystem exchange of CO2 using surface CO2 flux estimates.
• Analyzing energy balance partitioning with sensible and latent heat flux columns.
• Studying the relationship between atmospheric turbulence and carbon uptake using wind speed and direction data.
• Validating remote sensing soil moisture products from the AirMOSS mission with concurrent carbon flux observations.

Strengths

• Data covers three distinct forest research sites (Duke, Harvard, Howland) for comparative analysis.
• Includes quantified uncertainty estimates for each primary flux measurement.
• Provides high-frequency in-situ measurements from 26 dedicated flight campaigns.

Limitations

• Exact column names, row counts, and dataset size are unspecified across all platforms.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources (2014 vs. 2026), suggesting potential metadata errors.
• Data availability is limited to summer seasons only.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), AirMOSS project.

Collection Method

Measurements obtained using a cavity ring-down spectrometer onboard the Purdue University Airborne Laboratory for Atmospheric Research.

Time Range

Summers of 2012 to 2014.

Freshness

2026-03-13 19:16:07.628044

Geography

Duke Forest, Harvard Forest, and Howland Forest sites in the United States.