NOAA NOyO3 Airborne Measurements of Nitrogen Oxides and Ozone 2016-2018

2016 to 2018 data provides in situ concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), total reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy), and ozone (O3) measured by the NOAA NOyO3 instrument during NASA's Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission. The dataset was collected from the NASA DC-8 aircraft, profiling from 0.2 to 12 km altitude across global flight paths over four seasonal campaigns. This single, contiguous dataset from NASA and NOAA is intended to improve the representation of reactive gases and short-lived climate forcers in global atmospheric models.

Use Cases

• Validating and improving the representation of nitrogen oxide (NOx) chemistry in global atmospheric chemistry models using NO, NO2, and NOy concentration columns.
• Analyzing the spatial and seasonal distribution of tropospheric ozone (O3) and its precursors across remote regions from the Arctic to the South Pacific.
• Studying the vertical profiles (0.2 to 12 km) of reactive nitrogen species to understand atmospheric transport and oxidation processes.
• Investigating the relationships between short-lived climate forcers like ozone and nitrogen oxides on a global, contiguous scale.

Strengths

• Provides calibrated, high-precision measurements with a spatial resolution better than 100 meters.
• Covers a wide temporal range with flights in each of four seasons between 2016 and 2018.
• Offers extensive spatial coverage from the western Arctic to the South Pacific and across the Atlantic, profiling continuously from 0.2 to 12 km altitude.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source platform.
• Conflicting last update dates exist between platforms (2018-05-21 on NASA Earthdata and 2026-03-13 on Data.gov).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Collection Method

Airborne in situ measurements using the NOAA NOyO3 4-channel chemiluminescence instrument aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

2016 to 2018

Freshness

2026-03-13 14:00:24.036820

Geography

Global-scale flights originating from Palmdale, California, covering the western Arctic, South Pacific, Atlantic, Greenland, and central North America.