Airborne Polarimetric Data for PACE Satellite Validation Campaign

PACE-PAX ER-2 AirHARP2 data contains measurements from the Airborne Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter - 2 instrument. The dataset was collected during the September 2024 PACE-PAX campaign over Southern and Central California for validating the PACE satellite mission. It was produced by the LARC_CLOUD organization.

Use Cases

• Validate PACE satellite ocean color and aerosol data products using AirHARP2's hyper-angular polarimetric measurements.
• Assess spatial and temporal scale impacts on validation by analyzing coordinated aircraft and satellite overpass data.
• Refine aerosol retrieval algorithms by studying AirHARP2 observations of high-aerosol loads over land and ocean.
• Validate radiometric and polarimetric properties within the instrument swath of all PACE instruments.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the defined September 2024 campaign.
• Campaign involved coordinated measurements from two aircraft, satellite overpasses, and ground/ocean observations for robust validation.
• Flights targeted specific geometries, seasons, and times of day to focus on key atmospheric and oceanic processes.

Limitations

• Dataset size, row count, and specific file formats are unknown.
• Geographic coverage is limited to Southern and Central California and nearby coastal regions from a single month.
• The absence of column names or sample data obscures the specific variables and data structure.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata platform, from the LARC_CLOUD organization.

Collection Method

Airborne remote sensing data collected by the AirHARP2 instrument onboard the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft.

Time Range

September 2024.

Freshness

Data last updated on 2024-10-01, representing recent post-launch campaign results.

Geography

Southern and Central California and nearby coastal regions.