NASA Airborne Lidar Data Following the 1982 El Chichon Eruption

July 1982 to January 1984 data from NASA Langley Airborne Lidar flights conducted after the El Chichon volcanic eruption. The dataset, provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, contains atmospheric measurements in ASCII format.

Use Cases

• Modeling volcanic aerosol transport and dispersion based on lidar backscatter data.
• Analyzing atmospheric composition changes over time based on the multi-year flight campaign.
• Studying stratospheric aerosol layers and their optical properties following a major eruption.

Strengths

• Data collected over a defined 19-month period (July 1982 to January 1984).
• Sourced from a major scientific institution (NASA).
• Focuses on a specific, significant geophysical event (El Chichon eruption).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is in ASCII format, which may require parsing and conversion for modern analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Airborne Lidar flights conducted by NASA Langley.

Time Range

July 1982 to January 1984

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:20:18.907371; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Flight paths likely over regions affected by the El Chichon eruption; specific geography is not detailed.