FIREX-AQ: DC-8 Aircraft In-Situ Aerosol Measurements from 2019 Wildfire Campaign

In-situ aerosol measurements collected onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the 2019 FIREX-AQ campaign. The dataset features data from instruments including the AMS, CPC, PSAP, CCN, CDP, and Nephelometers, measuring aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties. The campaign was a NOAA/NASA interagency study of North American fires to understand the impact of fire emissions on tropospheric chemistry and air quality.

Use Cases

• Analyze aerosol microphysical and optical properties based on measurements from instruments like the CDP and Nephelometers.
• Study chemical transformation of wildfire plumes downwind based on aerosol composition data from the AMS.
• Model fire emission impacts on regional air quality based on integrated trace gas and aerosol measurements.
• Validate satellite fire detection and emission estimates based on detailed in-situ plume sampling.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the summer 2019 campaign.
• The DC-8 aircraft payload was capable of measuring over 200 trace gas species alongside aerosol properties.
• The DC-8 completed 23 dedicated science flights from bases in Boise, Idaho and Salina, Kansas.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific modeling tasks.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

In-situ measurements collected by instrument payload onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

Summer 2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:48:59.941833; freshness should be verified.

Geography

North America, with flights originating from Boise, Idaho and Salina, Kansas.