DISCOVER-AQ Colorado: Aircraft Remote Sensing Data for Air Quality Validation

Colorado (Denver) deployment data collected by the Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Optimization (GeoTASO) instrument onboard NASA's B-200 aircraft during the DISCOVER-AQ field study. The campaign was a four-year collaboration between NASA Langley, Goddard, Ames Research Centers, and multiple universities to improve satellite monitoring of air quality. Data collection is complete for this deployment.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde based on surface-level aircraft measurements.
• Analyze diurnal variability of atmospheric pollutants based on targeted airborne and ground-based observations.
• Investigate horizontal scales of variability, such as urban plumes and steep gradients, using remote sensing data.
• Diagnose ground-level conditions influencing air quality by integrating aircraft remote sensing with surface monitoring.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Colorado deployment.
• Part of a four-year NASA campaign involving multiple research centers and universities.
• Targets regions in violation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

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, PDF, ISO, HTML; data accessibility may require specialized tools.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data collected by the GeoTASO instrument onboard NASA's B-200 aircraft.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:14:48.053493; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Colorado (Denver), USA.