ARCTAS Ground Data: BrO Measurements from Barrow, Alaska

Barrow, Alaska, ground site data from the NASA-led ARCTAS field campaign during the International Polar Year 2007-2008. The dataset features Bromine monoxide (BrO) measurements collected using the MAX-DOAS method to study halogen radical chemistry and its role in Arctic atmospheric processes. It was created to address campaign objectives including understanding long-range pollution transport, boreal forest fire impacts, and aerosol radiative forcing in the climate-sensitive Arctic region.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal trends of BrO, a key species in polar ozone destruction, based on the MAX-DOAS measurement column.
• Modeling long-range transport of pollution to the Arctic based on the campaign's stated primary objective.
• Investigating the impact of boreal forest fire emissions on Arctic atmospheric composition based on the campaign's second objective.
• Studying aerosol radiative forcing in the Arctic climate system based on the campaign's third objective.

Strengths

• Data collection is explicitly stated as complete, providing a finalized record.
• Part of a major, well-documented NASA field campaign (ARCTAS) contributing to the International Polar Year.
• Provides ground-based validation data for a specific chemical species (BrO) in a critical Arctic location.

Limitations

• Column names and data structure are unknown, limiting immediate usability.
• Conflicting metadata: one source lists a last update date in 2026, while another lists 2008, creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Specific file size and row count are not provided across any source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Field campaign measurements using the MAX-DOAS (Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) method.

Time Range

2007-2008 (International Polar Year period)

Freshness

2026-03-13 16:44:59.668868 (datagov), but conflicts with a 2008 date on nasa_earthdata.

Geography

Barrow (Utqiaġvik), Alaska, USA, Arctic region.