Pacific Ozone Vertical Profiles from Airborne Lidar

Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) data was collected onboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft during the PEM-West B campaign in February-March 1994. The dataset provides vertical profiles of ozone and other atmospheric constituents over the northwestern Pacific region. It was created by the LARC_CLOUD organization as part of NASA's Global Tropospheric Experiment.

Use Cases

• Analyze vertical ozone (O3) profile data to study photochemical production and destruction mechanisms in the free troposphere.
• Correlate lidar-derived ozone measurements with in-situ aircraft data for nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO), and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) to investigate precursor relationships.
• Map the spatial distribution of sulfur species like sulfur dioxide (SO2) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) to assess continental versus marine sulfur source influences.
• Use latitudinal, longitudinal, and vertical profile sampling to characterize air mass outflow from Asia during the late winter/early spring season.
• Validate regional atmospheric chemistry models using concurrent measurements of ozone, nitrogen oxides (NOy), and nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs).

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the defined campaign period.
• Aircraft was equipped with a suite of in-situ instruments for correlative analysis with lidar data.
• Campaign designed to sample contrasting seasonal outflow conditions (PEM-West A in Fall 1991 and PEM-West B in Spring 1994).

Limitations

• Dataset is temporally limited to specific campaigns in 1991 and 1994, lacking recent observations.
• Spatial coverage is restricted to flight paths over the northwestern Pacific region.
• Specific row counts, column details, and data formats are not provided in the metadata.

Provenance

Source

NASA/LARC_CLOUD via the nasa_earthdata platform.

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data collected by a Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system onboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Time Range

Primary campaign phase for this data: February-March 1994 (PEM-West B). Related phase (PEM-West A): September-October 1991.

Freshness

Data collection ended in March 1994; it is a historical archive.

Geography

Northwestern Pacific region, off the eastern coast of Asia.