GroundMSPI Radiance and Polarization Data from ACEPOL Campaign

GroundMSPI_ACEPOL_Radiance_Data contains radiometric and polarimetric images of clouds, aerosols, and Earth's surface from the ACEPOL flight campaign. The dataset includes radiance, time, solar/view geometry, and Stokes parameters across 8 spectral wavelengths from 355 to 935 nm. NASA's LARC_ASDC organization released this data, which was acquired on October 25 and November 7, 2017.

Use Cases

• Retrieving aerosol optical properties by analyzing radiance and degree of linear polarization (DOLP) at 470, 660, and 865 nm wavelengths.
• Characterizing cloud microphysics using multi-spectral radiance data across 8 wavelengths from 355 to 935 nm.
• Studying surface bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDF) with radiance, solar zenith, solar azimuth, view zenith, and view azimuth data.
• Validating airborne polarimeter instrument data by comparing Stokes parameters Q and U relative to scattering and view meridian planes.

Strengths

• Includes polarimetric data (Stokes Q, U, DOLP, AOLP) for 3 specific wavelengths (470, 660, 865 nm).
• Provides multi-angle geometry data with solar zenith, solar azimuth, view zenith, and view azimuth for all spectral bands.
• Covers 8 distinct spectral bands from ultraviolet to near-infrared (355, 380, 445, 470, 555, 660, 865, 935 nm).

Limitations

• Limited temporal coverage to only two specific flight dates in October and November 2017.
• Spatial coverage is restricted to targets acquired during the ACEPOL campaign based in Palmdale, CA.
• Data is distributed in the specialized HDF-EOS-5 format, which may require specific libraries for access and processing.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Acquired by the GroundMSPI instrument during the ACEPOL flight campaign to support airborne instrument validation.

Time Range

October 25 and November 7, 2017.

Freshness

Data is from a specific campaign in 2017 with no stated update frequency.

Geography

Targets acquired during flights based out of Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA.