CAMEX-3 Airborne Multispectral Atmospheric Sensor Data

MAMS data provides high-resolution multispectral measurements from the NASA ER-2 aircraft during the CAMEX-3 field campaign. The sensor captures reflected radiation in eight visible/near-infrared bands and thermal emission in four infrared bands, with a nadir resolution of 100 meters. This dataset was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with collection activities centered around 1998.

Use Cases

• Analyzing cloud top height and structure using the variable instantaneous field-of-view (IFOV) that changes with cloud altitude.
• Mapping surface and cloud thermal emission properties across four infrared bands sensitive to water vapor.
• Studying reflected solar radiation from Earth's surface and cloud tops across eight visible/near-infrared spectral bands.
• Investigating detailed cross-sectional features of thunderstorms along a 37 km swath width from aircraft flight tracks.

Strengths

• Provides very high spatial resolution imagery with a 100-meter nadir resolution from an aircraft platform.
• Captures data across 12 distinct spectral bands (8 visible/near-IR, 4 infrared) for detailed atmospheric and surface analysis.
• Its cross-platform presence on both Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates recognized importance and curation.

Limitations

• Critical metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• A significant conflict exists on the 'last updated' date between sources (1998 vs. 2026), casting doubt on data maintenance.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but is 'None' on NASA EarthData.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS) aboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft during the CAMEX-3 field campaign.

Time Range

1998

Freshness

2026-03-13 07:06:51.760792

Geography

Coverage is along the flight tracks of the ER-2 aircraft, with a sensor swath width of 37 km.