NASA eMAS: Airborne Aerosol and Trace Gas Measurements from Wildfires, 2019

38-channel spectral data from the Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) instrument, sensing wavelengths from 0.445 to 13.844 micrometers. The eMASL2AER product contains in-situ measurements of trace gas and aerosol emissions from wildfires and prescribed fires, collected onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the FIREX-AQ campaign in summer 2019. The instrument is maintained by the NASA Ames Airborne Sensor Facility.

Use Cases

• Analyzing trace gas and aerosol emission profiles from wildfires based on the detailed in-situ measurements described.
• Validating satellite-based aerosol retrievals using the high-fidelity airborne simulator data mentioned.
• Studying the chemical transformation of wildfire plumes downwind based on the described measurement objectives.
• Relating fire emission characteristics to fuel and fire conditions at the point of emission as described.

Strengths

• Data originates from a 38-channel, 16-bit airborne spectrometer operated by NASA.
• Measurements were collected during a dedicated, large-scale field campaign (FIREX-AQ) in 2019.
• The product is designed to provide detailed in-situ data for validating satellite-based observations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NASA Ames Airborne Sensor Facility and EOS Project Science Office at NASA Goddard.

Collection Method

Airborne in-situ measurements collected from the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

Summer 2019 (FIREX-AQ campaign).

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Areas overflown by the DC-8 during the FIREX-AQ campaign; specific locations are not detailed.