SouthTRAC Flight 12: Airborne Temperature Measurements Over Southern Andes

GLORIA and ALIMA temperature measurements were acquired from the German HALO research aircraft during a research flight over the Southern Andes on September 20-21, 2019. The dataset covers the entire flight, with specific 3-D temperature retrievals from a hexagonal flight pattern flown between 02:50 and 06:10 UTC on September 21. The data was collected by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Jülich Research Center as part of the SouthTRAC measurement campaign.

Use Cases

• Validate atmospheric temperature models based on high-resolution 3-D retrievals from the GLORIA instrument.
• Study gravity wave propagation and atmospheric dynamics over mountainous terrain using the flight's temperature time series.
• Calibrate and compare different remote sensing techniques using co-located measurements from the ALIMA lidar and GLORIA spectrometer.

Strengths

• Data originates from a dedicated research flight using the advanced HALO aircraft and specialized instruments GLORIA and ALIMA.
• The 3-D temperature retrieval covers a specific, well-defined flight pattern flown for over three hours, providing a focused spatial snapshot.
• The dataset is associated with a named international measurement campaign (SouthTRAC), providing scientific context.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Forschungszentrum Jülich and German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Collection Method

Airborne measurements from the HALO research aircraft using the ALIMA lidar and GLORIA infrared limb imaging spectrometer.

Time Range

September 20-21, 2019, with specific pattern from 02:50 to 06:10 UTC on September 21.

Geography

Flight path over the Southern Andes.