DC-8 Meteorological and Navigation Data CPEX-CV

Airborne measurements from the NASA DC-8 aircraft include GPS positioning, trajectory, aircraft orientation, and atmospheric state data for temperature, pressure, water vapor, and horizontal winds. The data were gathered during the Convective Processes Experiment – Cabo Verde (CPEX-CV) field campaign based out of Sal Island from August through September 2022. These specific data files are available from September 2, 2022, through October 3, 2022, in ASCII format.

Use Cases

• Analyze atmospheric dynamics and convection processes based on temperature, pressure, and wind measurements.
• Study marine boundary layer properties and their interactions based on water vapor and atmospheric state data.
• Investigate the transport and impact of the Saharan Air Layer based on dust-laden atmospheric measurements.
• Validate and improve weather prediction models based on high-resolution airborne data from a data-sparse region.
• Map aircraft flight trajectories and spatial scales of phenomena based on GPS positioning and navigation data.

Strengths

• Data originates from a NASA field campaign using a DC-8 aircraft equipped with remote sensors and dropsonde-launch capability.
• Covers a specific temporal range from September 2 to October 3, 2022, during the CPEX-CV campaign.
• Focuses on the data-sparse tropical East Atlantic region, offering unique measurements for that area.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality and completeness require manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Airborne measurements gathered by the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the CPEX-CV field campaign.

Time Range

September 2, 2022, through October 3, 2022 (campaign ran August through September 2022).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:12:41.245786; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Tropical East Atlantic region, based out of Sal Island, Cabo Verde.