DISCOVER-AQ: Texas Air Pollution Data from Aircraft Remote Sensing

NASA's DISCOVER-AQ campaign collected airborne remote sensing data to validate satellite observations of ground-level air pollution. The Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper instrument on a B-200 aircraft captured data specifically during the 2013 Texas deployment focused on Houston. This dataset is part of a four-year, multi-institution effort to improve the use of satellites for monitoring public health risks from ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of trace gases based on surface-level aircraft measurements.
• Investigate correlations between surface pollution and satellite data for ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde.
• Analyze diurnal variability of pollutants using combined aircraft and ground-based observations.
• Study horizontal scales of variability, such as urban plumes and pollution gradients, in Houston.
• Diagnose ground-level conditions influencing air quality using targeted airborne remote sensing.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Texas deployment, as stated in the description.
• Part of a targeted four-year NASA campaign involving multiple research centers and universities.
• Focuses on regions violating National Ambient Air Quality Standards, providing real-world problem data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is provided in specialized formats (BIN, PDF, ISO, HTML) which may require specific tools to process.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data collected by the Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper onboard NASA's B-200 aircraft.

Time Range

2013 (Texas deployment)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:20:57.381450; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Houston, Texas, USA