ER-2 Aircraft Polarimetric Measurements for PACE Satellite Validation

September 2024 data from the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) instrument flown on NASA's ER-2 high-altitude aircraft during the PACE-PAX campaign. The dataset supports validation and refinement of data products from the PACE satellite mission, focusing on atmospheric and oceanic properties over Southern and Central California. It was collected by the LARC_CLOUD organization and is associated with a completed campaign.

Use Cases

• Validate PACE satellite radiometric and polarimetric properties using RSP-measured Stokes parameters and radiance.
• Assess spatial and temporal scale impacts on validation by analyzing geolocated, time-stamped flight track data over California.
• Study specific atmospheric phenomena like high-aerosol loads over land and ocean by examining polarimetric signatures across multiple spectral bands.
• Refine aerosol and cloud retrieval algorithms by comparing RSP's multi-angle, multi-spectral polarimetric observations with PACE satellite products.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for a focused campaign with 60 planned flight hours for the ER-2 aircraft.
• Campaign was specifically designed for rigorous satellite validation, coordinating flights with PACE overpasses and ground observations.

Limitations

• Sample size is limited to a single campaign month (September 2024) and a specific geographic region, reducing generalizability.
• The dataset's specific row count, column details, and file structure are unknown, complicating immediate analysis.

Provenance

Source

LARC_CLOUD organization via NASA's Earthdata platform.

Collection Method

Airborne remote sensing using the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) instrument onboard the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft.

Time Range

September 2024

Freshness

Data from September 2024, with metadata last updated in October 2024.

Geography

Southern and Central California and nearby coastal regions.