CAMEX-3 Hurricane Cloud and Aerosol Particle Characterization

CAPAC data originates from three instruments flown on a NASA DC-8 aircraft during the 1998 CAMEX-3 mission to study hurricanes. It provides detailed measurements of cloud and aerosol particle size, shape, and derived water content over the Gulf of America, Caribbean, and Western Atlantic. The dataset is produced by NASA and is hosted on multiple government data platforms.

Use Cases

• Analyzing particle size distributions from 0.3 micrometers to 6.4 millimeters for cloud microphysics studies.
• Investigating the relationship between particle shape (from 40 micrometers to 6.4 mm) and precipitation processes in hurricanes.
• Calculating integrated ice and liquid water content in storm clouds to model hurricane intensity.
• Correlating in-situ particle measurements with coordinated radar, lightning, and radiosonde data from the CAMEX-3 campaign.

Strengths

• Provides particle measurements across a wide size spectrum, from 0.3 micrometers (aerosols) to 6.4 millimeters (precipitation).
• Includes both particle size and shape data for diameters between 40 micrometers and 6.4 mm.
• Data was collected in a coordinated multi-platform field campaign (CAMEX-3) involving multiple aircraft and ground instruments.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided on any platform.
• Conflicting last update dates exist between platforms (1998 vs. 2026), suggesting potential metadata inconsistencies.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

In-situ measurements from FSSP-300, 2D-P, and video instruments mounted on the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

1998 (CAMEX-3 mission period)

Freshness

2026-03-13 07:11:11.324437

Geography

U.S. Gulf of America, Caribbean, and Western Atlantic Ocean