DISCOVER-AQ: In-Situ Aircraft Aerosol Data for Colorado

Colorado deployment data from NASA's DISCOVER-AQ field study, collected in 2014. The dataset contains in-situ aerosol measurements from the P-3B aircraft, using instruments like the Particle Soot Absorption Photometer, Nephelometer, and Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer. It was created by NASA to improve the use of satellites for monitoring ground-level air quality.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of air pollutants based on in-situ aerosol and trace gas measurements.
• Study vertical profiles of aerosol properties and chemical composition based on spiral profiling data.
• Investigate correlations between surface-level pollution and atmospheric column data for ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde.
• Model near-surface pollution factors by integrating aircraft, ground-based, and satellite observations.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Colorado deployment, as stated in the description.
• Instruments used are explicitly listed, including PSAP, APS, CPC, Nephelometer, and UHSAS.
• Part of a multi-year, multi-agency NASA campaign (DISCOVER-AQ) involving targeted airborne and ground-based observations.

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, and HTML, which may require specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

In-situ measurements collected onboard NASA's P-3B aircraft during spiral atmospheric profiling.

Time Range

2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:14:13.515767; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Denver, Colorado, USA