Arctic Summer Cloud and Radiation Data from Learjet KPR

NASA's ARCSIX campaign collected Ka-Band Probe Radar-Radiometer data from a Learjet aircraft to quantify contributions to the Arctic summer surface radiation budget and sea ice melt. The field investigation involved two deployments from May to August 2024, utilizing multiple aircraft based out of Greenland. Its primary objective was to validate and improve remote sensing algorithms and model parameterizations for Arctic sea ice, clouds, and aerosols.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived cloud property algorithms using Ka-Band radar and radiometer measurements.
• Analyzing the impact of summer Arctic cloud types on the surface radiation budget for climate modeling.
• Studying processes controlling cloud evolution and maintenance in the summertime Arctic atmosphere.
• Investigating two-way interactions between surface properties and atmospheric forcings on sea ice evolution.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for a focused NASA field campaign with a clear scientific objective.
• Campaign utilized multiple coordinated platforms (P-3B, LaRC G-III, SPEC-Learjet) for complementary measurements.
• Covers the critical early melt season in the Arctic across two deployments from May to August 2024.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but 'None' on NASA Earthdata, creating a conflict.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Airborne remote sensing data collected onboard the SPEC-Learjet aircraft using the Ka-Band Probe Radar-Radiometer (KPR).

Time Range

May 2024 to August 2024

Freshness

2026-03-13 16:52:22.076769

Geography

Arctic region, based out of Greenland with operations including the Thule High Arctic Atmospheric Observatory (THAAO) in Pituffik.