DC3: Aircraft Meteorological and Navigational Data from Deep Convective Clouds Campaign

NASA DC-8 aircraft collected in-situ meteorological and navigational data during the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry field campaign. The campaign ran from May to June 2012, with operations based in Salina, Kansas and sampling storms in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama. DC3 aimed to understand storm dynamics, lightning-produced nitrogen oxides, and the impact of convection on upper tropospheric chemistry.

Use Cases

• Model convective transport of chemical species based on in-situ meteorological measurements.
• Analyze storm inflow characteristics based on aircraft measurements mentioned in the description.
• Study the relationship between lightning and nitrogen oxide production based on campaign objectives.
• Investigate seasonal changes in upper tropospheric chemistry based on the second campaign objective.
• Validate satellite-derived atmospheric profiles using coordinated ground and airborne measurements described.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete, as stated in the description.
• Campaign utilized multiple platforms including aircraft, ground radar, and satellites for coordinated observations.
• Observations cover a wide geographic sample of storm types across multiple states.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• File formats include BIN and XML, which may require specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

In-situ measurements collected onboard the DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

May to June 2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:18:35.849715; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northeastern Colorado, west Texas to central Oklahoma, northern Alabama, with base in Salina, Kansas