DISCOVER-AQ: Aircraft Measurements for Air Quality Satellite Validation in Maryland

NASA's DISCOVER-AQ campaign collected pre-generated merged data files from P-3B aircraft flights during the 2011 Maryland deployment. The four-year campaign involved NASA Langley, Goddard, and Ames Research Centers, plus multiple universities, to improve satellite monitoring of near-surface pollution. Data includes in-situ spiral profiles of aerosol properties, meteorological variables, and trace gas species like ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde based on surface and aircraft measurements.
• Analyze diurnal variability of air pollutants based on surface-level measurement campaigns.
• Model urban plume behavior and horizontal pollution gradients based on targeted airborne observations.
• Correlate aerosol properties and meteorological variables with satellite data based on in-situ spiral profiles.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Maryland deployment, providing a finalized dataset.
• Campaign involved multiple NASA research centers and universities, suggesting a collaborative and rigorous collection effort.
• Targeted regions known to violate National Ambient Air Quality Standards, providing relevant real-world conditions.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is specific to the 2011 Maryland deployment; findings may not generalize to other regions or times.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements obtained onboard the P-3B aircraft during spiral profiling, merged with ground-based observations.

Time Range

2011 (Maryland deployment).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:13:27.515931; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Baltimore-Washington, D.C. region, Maryland, USA.