NASA Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC): Atmospheric Microbe Samples from 13.7 km

Four consecutive science flights over the United States from October 30 to November 2, 2017, collected airborne microorganisms up to 13.7 km altitude. The dataset, created by NASA, includes results from molecular and culture-based characterization of bioaerosols captured on DNA-treated filters. Several viable bacterial isolates were recovered, and 16S sequencing revealed an average of 305 OTUs for Cruise samples and 276 for Ascent/Descent samples.

Use Cases

• Modeling the distribution of airborne bacteria across the tropopause based on Ascent/Descent and Cruise altitude samples
• Identifying microbial taxa more abundant in the atmosphere than on the ground based on reported family and genus-level OTUs
• Assessing background contamination signals in high-altitude biomass collection for planetary mission planning
• Analyzing the homogeneity of atmospheric bacteria up to 12 km using culture-independent sequencing data

Strengths

• Data originates from a novel, flight-validated NASA collection system designed for extreme altitudes up to 13.7 km
• Includes both culture-based results (viable isolates like Bacillus sp.) and molecular analysis (16S V4 sequencing with OTU counts)
• Covers a specific temporal range of four consecutive missions from October 30 to November 2, 2017

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• The influence of aircraft-associated bacterial contaminants could not be fully eliminated, as reported in the description

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Air collected during aircraft Ascent/Descent and Cruise, captured on DNA-treated gelatinous filters inside a cascade air sampler, analyzed with molecular and culture-based characterization.

Time Range

October 30 to November 2, 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 19:28:16.370654; freshness should be verified

Geography

Flown over the United States