High-Spectral Resolution Lidar Data from 2019 Wildfire Airborne Campaign

HSRL measurements were collected aboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft during 23 science flights in summer 2019. The data capture aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties within wildfire plumes. This product is part of the NOAA/NASA FIREX-AQ campaign to study fire emissions and air quality impacts.

Use Cases

• Analyze aerosol backscatter and extinction profiles from HSRL to characterize plume vertical structure.
• Correlate HSRL-derived aerosol optical properties with in-situ trace gas measurements from the same campaign.
• Validate satellite-based fire detection and emission estimates using the high-resolution airborne lidar data.
• Study the relationship between fuel conditions at emission points and the subsequent aerosol properties measured downwind.

Strengths

• Data originates from a major interagency campaign (FIREX-AQ) involving multiple aircraft and ground stations.
• Measurements were collected during 23 dedicated science flights, providing repeated sampling opportunities.
• The HSRL instrument provides vertically resolved profiles of key aerosol properties.

Limitations

• The dataset's temporal coverage is limited to the summer 2019 campaign period.
• Spatial coverage is focused on specific flight paths from bases in Idaho and Kansas, not a continuous global record.
• Specific data volume, row count, and file format details are not provided in the source description.

Provenance

Source

NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC).

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data collected by the High-Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) instrument onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

Summer 2019.

Freshness

Data collection is complete as of September 2019; no ongoing updates are indicated.

Geography

Flight paths primarily over North America, with operations from Boise, Idaho and Salina, Kansas.