DC-8 Meteorological and Navigation Data CPEX-AW: August 2021 Campaign

August 17, 2021 through September 4, 2021 airborne measurements from the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the CPEX-AW field campaign. The dataset includes GPS positioning, aircraft orientation, and atmospheric state measurements of temperature, pressure, water vapor, and horizontal winds. It was collected by NASA and ESA for post-launch calibration and validation of the ADM-AEOLUS wind Lidar satellite.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite-derived wind profiles based on in-situ horizontal wind measurements.
• Analyze aircraft trajectory and orientation for flight path studies based on GPS positioning data.
• Model atmospheric state conditions based on temperature, pressure, and water vapor measurements.
• Calibrate remote sensing instruments based on high-precision airborne reference data.

Strengths

• Data collected during a dedicated NASA/ESA joint field campaign for satellite validation.
• Includes multiple atmospheric state variables: temperature, pressure, water vapor, and horizontal winds.
• Time range is explicitly defined from August 17, 2021 to September 4, 2021.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is available in ASCII format, but also listed as BIN, PDF, ISO, HTML; format consistency is unclear.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Airborne measurements from the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

August 17, 2021 through September 4, 2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:18:50.141988; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (campaign location)