GOES-R PLT GCAS Airborne Solar Backscatter Radiation Dataset

GOES-R PLT GCAS data contains solar backscattered radiation measurements collected by the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Event Airborne Simulator aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft. The dataset supports post-launch validation of the Advanced Baseline Imager and Geostationary Lightning Mapper instruments from the GOES-R satellite. Data files in HDF-5 format cover a campaign period from March 21 to May 14, 2017.

Use Cases

• Validating Level 1B radiance products from the GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager using airborne solar backscatter measurements.
• Assessing the performance of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper through coordinated airborne campaign data.
• Analyzing temporal patterns of atmospheric radiation and pollution events across the March-May 2017 observation period.
• Studying coastal air pollution dynamics using high-altitude, geospatially referenced radiation data from the GCAS instrument.

Strengths

• Data collected during a dedicated NASA field campaign (GOES-R Post Launch Test) for instrument validation.
• Provides a continuous time series of measurements from March 21 to May 14, 2017.
• Recorded by a specialized instrument (GCAS) flown on a high-altitude ER-2 aircraft, enabling above-atmosphere sampling.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not documented on any platform.
• File format metadata is inconsistent, with sources listing HDF-5 but shared metadata including BIN, ISO, HTML, and PDF.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but is null on NASA Earthdata.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Solar backscattered radiation measured by the GEO-CAPE Airborne Simulator (GCAS) aboard a NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft.

Time Range

March 21, 2017 to May 14, 2017

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:01:28.015745

Geography

null