BOREAS Ground Sunphotometer Data for Aerosol and Water Vapor Measurements

Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada, are the geographic scope for this dataset of ground-based solar radiometer measurements. The BOREAS RSS-11 team collected aerosol optical depth, size distribution, phase function, and column water vapor data from 1994 to 1996 using a network of five automated and two handheld instruments. This tabular ASCII data supports the correction of aircraft and satellite imagery.

Use Cases

• Correcting remotely sensed aircraft and satellite images using aerosol optical depth and water vapor column measurements.
• Analyzing aerosol size distribution and phase function for atmospheric modeling in boreal regions.
• Studying temporal variations in atmospheric constituents over a two-year field campaign period.
• Validating satellite-derived aerosol and water vapor products with ground-based point measurements.

Strengths

• Data collection employed a specific network of seven instruments (five Cimel automated, two Miami handheld).
• Measurements cover a defined two-year time range during the BOREAS campaigns (1994-1996).
• Cross-platform presence on NASA EarthData and Data.gov indicates recognized importance for the research community.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts exist: the row count, dataset size, and exact license are unknown or unspecified across sources.
• Column names and the complete data schema are not provided by any source, limiting immediate analysis.
• The data format is described only as tabular ASCII files, with no sample or detailed structure available.

Provenance

Source

BOREAS RSS-11 team, organization listed as ORNL_CLOUD on one platform.

Collection Method

Measurements gathered by a network of ground-based solar radiometers (Cimel and Miami types) operated during field campaigns.

Time Range

1994 to 1996

Freshness

2026-03-13 12:28:46.547827

Geography

Points in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada.