DISCOVER-AQ: Fort Collins Ground Site Air Quality Measurements

DISCOVER-AQ Colorado Deployment Fort Collins Ground Site Data contains surface-level measurements collected at a ground site in Fort Collins during NASA's 2014 Denver deployment. The data was gathered to validate and expand upon satellite observations of near-surface pollution, specifically for ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde. The campaign was conducted by NASA Langley, Goddard, Ames Research Centers, and multiple universities.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of ozone (O3) based on concurrent ground measurements.
• Analyze diurnal variability of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations using surface-level data.
• Investigate correlations between formaldehyde (CH2O) levels at the surface and in the atmospheric column.
• Diagnose factors controlling near-surface pollution gradients in urban areas like Denver.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Colorado deployment, providing a finalized dataset.
• Integrates measurements from multiple platforms: aircraft, ground sites, AERONET photometers, and Pandora spectrometers.
• Targeted regions known to violate National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), ensuring relevance to public health.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is specific to the 2014 Colorado deployment and a single ground site, limiting geographic scope.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected via targeted airborne and ground-based observations during the DISCOVER-AQ field campaign.

Time Range

2014 (Colorado deployment)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:21:50.304640; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.