DISCOVER-AQ: Ancillary Ground Site Data for Texas Air Quality Analysis

DISCOVER-AQ_Texas_Ground_Analysis_Ancillary_Data contains surface-level measurements collected at ancillary ground sites during NASA's DISCOVER-AQ field study deployment in Houston, Texas in 2013. The data product is complete and was collected by NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Ames Research Center, and multiple universities. It aims to validate satellite observations of near-surface pollution by incorporating measurements from aircraft and ground-based platforms.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde based on surface-level measurements.
• Analyze diurnal variability of pollutants based on ground site data.
• Explore horizontal scales of pollution variability, such as urban plumes, based on ancillary site measurements.
• Diagnose ground-level conditions influencing air quality based on integrated airborne and ground-based observations.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Texas deployment.
• Integrates measurements from multiple platforms: two NASA aircraft, surface air quality monitors, AERONET sun photometers, Pandora spectrometers, and model simulations.
• Targeted regions were in violation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards, providing real-world case studies.

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, HTML, which may require specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected at ancillary ground sites during the DISCOVER-AQ Texas deployment.

Time Range

2013

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:20:49.316149; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Houston, Texas