NAAMES Aircraft Merge Data for North Atlantic Aerosol and Ecosystem Study

NAAMES_Merge_Data contains pre-generated aircraft merge data files from the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES). The dataset was created by NASA's LARC_ASDC from four seasonal deployments spanning from 2015 to 2018. It focuses on atmospheric aerosol, cloud, and trace gas measurements collected by a NASA C-130 aircraft over the North Atlantic Ocean.

Use Cases

• Analyze seasonal trends in aerosol concentration and cloud properties across the four distinct NAAMES deployment phases.
• Correlate atmospheric trace gas measurements with concurrent ocean ecosystem data from the companion SeaBass archive.
• Validate satellite-derived atmospheric data products using in-situ aircraft sensor measurements.
• Model the evolution of ocean-generated aerosols using time-series data from the C-130 flight paths.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete from four dedicated seasonal deployments.
• Covers a multi-year time range from 2015 to 2018.
• Integrates measurements from a specialized NASA C-130 aircraft platform.

Limitations

• Specific row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown.
• Most ocean data products are stored in a separate archive (SeaBass), requiring joins for full ecosystem analysis.
• The last documented update was in 2017, indicating static data with no planned refreshes.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Airborne measurements collected by instruments on a NASA Wallops Flight Facility C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Time Range

Four deployments between 2015 and 2018: Nov-Dec 2015, May-Jun 2016, Aug-Sep 2017, Mar-Apr 2018.

Freshness

Static dataset; last updated 2017-09-22.

Geography

North Atlantic Ocean, with aircraft based from St. John's International Airport, Newfoundland, Canada.