NAMMA DC-8 Aircraft Navigation and Atmospheric Data

NAMMA DC-8 Navigation and Housekeeping (ICATS) V1 contains engineering unit values from aircraft avionics and environmental sensors recorded during the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses campaign. The dataset was generated in August 2006 to characterize African Easterly Waves and Mesoscale Convective Systems over western Africa. It archives parameters from GPS, inertial navigation, air data computers, and analog sources for post-flight analysis.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the structure of African Easterly Waves using recorded wind speed, wind direction, and dew point temperature parameters.
• Studying aircraft attitude and spectral engineering characteristics for flight path and performance validation.
• Investigating regional water and energy budgets by examining upper-air temperature and atmospheric water vapor indicators.
• Calibrating or validating other atmospheric models with direct in-situ measurements from a dedicated NASA field campaign.

Strengths

• Data originates from a major NASA field campaign (NAMMA) with a defined scientific mission to study African monsoons.
• Includes a specific set of engineered parameters listed in 'Appendix A' of the ICATS documentation for structured analysis.
• Captures a focused temporal period during August 2006, providing a snapshot of a specific monsoon season.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and a complete column list are unavailable across all platforms.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources (2006-09-12 on NASA Earthdata and 2026-03-12 on Data.gov), suggesting potential metadata errors.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Science Mission Directorate

Collection Method

Data gathered from the DC-8 aircraft's Navigational Management System, GPS, Central Air Data Computer, Embedded GPS/INS, and analog voltage sources during the NAMMA campaign.

Time Range

August 2006

Freshness

2006-09-12 19:49:33

Geography

Cape Verde Islands and continental western Africa, over the eastern Atlantic Ocean.