Arctic Airborne Greenhouse Gas Concentrations from CARVE Flights

2012 to 2015 flight campaigns provide atmospheric mole fractions for carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, and sulfur hexafluoride over Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. Data were collected via programmable flask packages onboard aircraft and analyzed by NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory. This dataset supports investigation of seasonal and inter-annual variability in Arctic carbon reservoirs.

Use Cases

• Analyzing seasonal trends in methane and carbon dioxide concentrations to assess permafrost thaw contributions.
• Correlating trace gas mole fractions (CO, H2, N2O, SF6) with flight paths and sampling altitudes (PBL vs. free troposphere).
• Validating and complementing data from the NOAA/ESRL Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network for the Arctic region.
• Investigating inter-annual variability in atmospheric gas abundances across multiple years (2012-2015) of airborne campaigns.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-year time range (2012-2015) with seasonal sampling from March to November each year.
• Provides measurements for multiple key greenhouse and trace gases (CO2, CH4, CO, H2, N2O, SF6) from a single source.
• Samples were analyzed using automated systems at NOAA ESRL, a leading authority in global greenhouse gas monitoring.
• A minimum of 12 flask samples were collected per flight, ensuring repeated measurements across different geophysical conditions.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and detailed column names are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last update dates exist: one platform lists 2026-03-13, while another lists 2015-11 12, suggesting possible metadata inconsistencies.
• The license is specified only as 'other-license-specified', requiring further investigation for reuse terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with laboratory analysis by NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Monitoring Division.

Collection Method

Laboratory measurements of whole air samples collected by Programmable Flask Packages (PFPs) onboard the CARVE aircraft.

Time Range

2012 to 2015

Freshness

2026-03-13 09:11:34.664576

Geography

Alaskan and Canadian Arctic