DISCOVER-AQ Maryland Deployment: UC-12 Aircraft Lidar Data

Maryland deployment data collected by NASA's High Spectral Resolution Lidar onboard a UC-12 aircraft during the DISCOVER-AQ field study. The campaign was a four-year collaboration between NASA Langley, Goddard, Ames Research Centers, and universities to improve satellite monitoring of air quality. Data collection is complete for this specific deployment.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of aerosols based on vertically resolved lidar measurements
• Analyze diurnal variability of atmospheric properties based on targeted airborne observations
• Investigate correlations between surface-level pollution and column measurements based on the campaign's first objective
• Study horizontal scales of variability, such as urban plumes, based on the campaign's stated aim

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Maryland deployment
• Part of a multi-year, multi-institution NASA campaign (DISCOVER-AQ)
• Includes data from targeted airborne observations designed to validate satellite data

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data collected by High Spectral Resolution Lidar onboard NASA's UC-12 aircraft

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:21:07.178752; freshness should be verified

Geography

Maryland deployment, specifically Baltimore-Washington, D.C. region