DISCOVER-AQ: P-3B Aircraft Meteorological and Navigational Data for Texas

Texas (Houston) deployment data from NASA's DISCOVER-AQ field study contains in situ meteorological and navigational measurements collected onboard the P-3B aircraft. The dataset is part of a four-year campaign involving NASA Langley, Goddard, and Ames Research Centers to improve satellite monitoring of ground-level air quality. Data collection for the Texas deployment is complete.

Use Cases

• Validate satellite column observations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde based on in-situ aircraft measurements.
• Analyze diurnal variability of near-surface pollutants based on surface-level and aircraft data.
• Investigate horizontal scales of atmospheric variability, such as urban plumes, based on spiral profiling data.
• Study correlations between surface measurements and satellite data to diagnose ground-level air quality conditions.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the Texas deployment, as explicitly stated in the description.
• Part of a targeted four-year NASA campaign involving multiple research centers and aircraft.
• Designed to provide crucial surface-level information for validating satellite-based air quality observations.

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 (Houston) deployment and does not cover other DISCOVER-AQ regions without separate datasets.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

In situ data collected onboard NASA's P-3B aircraft during spiral atmospheric profiling.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:13:04.706802; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Texas (Houston), USA