AirMSPI Polarimetric Radiance Data from Porter Ranch Gas Leak Campaign

Eight wavelengths of radiometric and polarimetric imagery were collected by the AirMSPI instrument during the SPEX-PR flight campaign in February 2016. The dataset includes radiance, solar/view geometry, and Stokes parameters (Q, U) for three polarized bands. This release contains all targets from the campaign, which validated the SPEX airborne instrument and monitored the Porter Ranch natural gas leak.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) at 470, 660, and 865 nm to characterize atmospheric particle properties.
• Mapping methane plume dispersion from the Porter Ranch leak using radiance data across eight spectral bands.
• Validating other polarimeter instruments, such as SPEX airborne, using co-located radiometric and polarimetric measurements.
• Studying surface and cloud reflectance properties with georegistered, terrain-projected radiance images.
• Investigating solar and view geometry effects on polarized light using the provided solar zenith, solar azimuth, view zenith, and view azimuth columns.

Strengths

• Includes polarimetric data (Stokes Q, U, DOLP, AOLP) for three specific wavelengths (470, 660, 865 nm), enabling detailed atmospheric particle analysis.
• Covers a focused, scientifically significant event with data from the Porter Ranch gas leak overflight on February 9, 2016.
• Provides map-projected, georegistered radiance data across eight spectral bands from 355 nm to 935 nm.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided on any platform.
• A conflict exists on the last update date: NASA Earthdata lists 2016-02-09, while Data.gov lists 2026-03-13, suggesting potential metadata errors.
• The license is listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but is unknown on NASA platforms, requiring user verification.

Provenance

Source

LARC_ASDC (NASA Langley Research Center - Atmospheric Science Data Center)

Collection Method

Acquired by the Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) instrument flown on the ER-2 aircraft.

Time Range

February 2-5 and February 9, 2016

Freshness

2016-02-09 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Flight campaigns based out of Armstrong Flight Research Center, Palmdale, CA, with targets including the Porter Ranch, California area.