NASA ATom Airborne Particulate Iodine Measurements

NASA's ATom missions collected airborne measurements of particulate iodine mass concentrations and ion fractions. The dataset contains reanalyzed, post-calibration data from the High-Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometer during the ATom-1 and ATom-2 deployments in 2016 and 2017. It is reported at a 1-minute temporal resolution and includes air mass classification flags.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the spatial and temporal distribution of particulate iodine mass concentrations across remote ocean and polar regions.
• Investigating iodine oxidation states in aerosols using the provided ion fractions (I+, HI+, I2+).
• Studying tropospheric versus stratospheric iodine chemistry by filtering observations with the air mass classification flag.
• Validating global atmospheric chemistry models with in-situ, high-time-resolution airborne measurements.

Strengths

• Data is a reanalysis based on post-mission calibrations, improving accuracy over initial measurements.
• Provides high temporal resolution measurements at 1-minute intervals.
• Includes derived metrics for oxidation state analysis (I+, HI+, I2+ fractions).

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates: datagov lists 2026-03 13, while nasa_earthdata lists 2017-02-21.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete column lists are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Measured by High-Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-AMS) aboard aircraft during NASA ATom missions.

Time Range

2016 to 2017

Freshness

2026-03-13 08:23:37.910737

Geography

Global coverage from airborne missions spanning remote ocean and polar regions.