ATom Mission Global Atmospheric Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Measurements

NASA's Atmospheric Tomography mission collected global-scale, in situ atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration data from 2016 to 2018. Measurements were taken using the NCAR Airborne Oxygen Instrument aboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft, profiling altitudes from 0.2 to 12 kilometers across four seasonal campaigns. This dataset supports the improvement of atmospheric chemistry and climate models.

Use Cases

• Validating and improving global atmospheric chemistry models using in situ O2 and CO2 concentration profiles.
• Studying seasonal variability of atmospheric gases across a global flight path from the Arctic to the South Pacific.
• Analyzing vertical distribution of key atmospheric components from near-surface to 12 km altitude.
• Investigating correlations between oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in remote atmospheric regions.

Strengths

• Provides a single, contiguous global-scale dataset from a systematic airborne campaign.
• Covers four distinct seasons over a multi-year period from 2016 to 2018.
• Profiles a wide vertical range in the atmosphere, from 0.2 km to 12 km altitude.
• Uses a specific vacuum-ultraviolet absorption technique for oxygen measurement.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last update dates exist between platforms (2018-05-21 on NASA Earthdata vs. 2026-03-13 on Data.gov).
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

Collection Method

In situ measurements gathered by the NCAR Airborne Oxygen Instrument (AO2) onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the ATom mission.

Time Range

2016 to 2018

Freshness

2026-03-13 14:01:25.281347

Geography

Global, with flight paths covering the western Arctic, South Pacific, Atlantic, Greenland, and central North America.