DISCOVER-AQ Texas: Aircraft Remote Sensing Data for Air Quality Validation

Texas (Houston) deployment data collected by the GeoTASO instrument onboard NASA's Falcon aircraft during the DISCOVER-AQ field study. The dataset contains remotely sensed atmospheric column observations to validate satellite measurements of near-surface pollution. The campaign was conducted by NASA Langley, Goddard, Ames Research Centers, and multiple universities over four years.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and formaldehyde (CH2O) based on aircraft remote sensing.
• Analyze diurnal variability of pollutants based on surface-level and column measurements.
• Investigate correlations between surface pollution and satellite observations based on targeted airborne data.
• Study horizontal scales of variability, such as urban plumes and steep gradients, based on atmospheric profiling.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Texas deployment, providing a finalized dataset.
• Campaign involved multiple NASA research centers and universities, suggesting collaborative rigor.
• Targeted observations in regions violating National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

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 the Texas deployment, limiting geographic scope.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data collected by the Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Optimization (GeoTASO) instrument onboard NASA's Falcon aircraft.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:20:34.503574; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Texas (Houston)