DISCOVER-AQ Colorado: Ground-Based Column Observations of NO2 and O3

A 2014 field campaign dataset containing column measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) from Pandora spectrometers at 11 ground sites in the Denver, Colorado area. The data were collected by NASA and university partners during the DISCOVER-AQ campaign to validate and improve the use of satellite observations for understanding near-surface air pollution. The dataset is complete for the Colorado deployment.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of NO2 and O3 based on concurrent ground-based measurements.
• Investigate correlations between surface-level pollution and atmospheric column amounts for trace gases.
• Analyze diurnal variability of air pollutants based on surface-level measurement data.
• Study horizontal scales of air pollution variability, such as urban gradients, using multi-site observations.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Colorado deployment, as stated in the description.
• Measurements were taken at 11 distinct ground sites, providing spatial coverage across the study area.
• Part of a targeted NASA campaign integrating aircraft, satellite, and ground-based platforms for validation.

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 specific tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by Pandora UV/vis spectrometers at ground sites during the DISCOVER-AQ field campaign.

Time Range

2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:14:16.692693; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Denver, Colorado area, including sites at BAO Tower, Chatfield Park, Denver-LaCasa, Fort Collins, NREL-Golden, Platteville, Boulder, Niwot Ridge, Rocky Flats, Table Mtn, and Weld Tower.