DISCOVER-AQ: UC-12 Aircraft Meteorological and Navigational Data for Maryland

Maryland (Baltimore-Washington) deployment data from NASA's DISCOVER-AQ field study contains in situ meteorological and navigational measurements collected onboard a UC-12 aircraft. The data collection is complete for this deployment and was gathered to validate and expand the use of satellite observations for understanding near-surface air pollution. The campaign was a four-year collaboration between NASA research centers and multiple universities, employing targeted airborne and ground-based observations.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite-derived air quality measurements based on in situ aircraft meteorological data.
• Analyze vertical atmospheric profiles for pollution studies based on the campaign's spiral profiling methodology.
• Model ground-level air quality conditions based on integrated airborne and surface measurement data.
• Study factors contributing to National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) violations in the Baltimore-Washington region.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Maryland deployment, providing a finalized dataset.
• Data originates from a major four-year NASA campaign involving multiple research centers and universities.
• Supports integration with other DISCOVER-AQ data from surface monitors, sun photometers, and model simulations.

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 a single deployment (Maryland) and a single year (likely 2011).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected onboard NASA's UC-12 aircraft via the APPLANIX system during the DISCOVER-AQ field study.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:13:39.732150; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Maryland (Baltimore-Washington) region, United States.