PolarWindsII_DAWN_DC8: Arctic Atmospheric Wind Lidar Data

Arctic regions near Greenland and Iceland are the focus of this airborne measurement dataset from NASA's Polar Winds campaigns in October-November 2014 and May 2015. It contains wind and aerosol data from the Doppler Aerosol WiNd (DAWN) lidar and dropsonde systems, targeting phenomena like katabatic flows and the Greenland Tip Jet. Over 80 hours of research flights across 24 missions were conducted from bases in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, and Keflavik, Iceland.

Use Cases

• Analyzing coastal katabatic flow dynamics based on lower tropospheric wind measurements.
• Studying boundary layer circulations like rolls and Organized Large Eddies (OLEs) from wind profiles.
• Validating satellite-derived wind data over the Arctic using high-resolution airborne lidar observations.
• Investigating the Greenland Tip Jet and barrier wind events from mission flight data.
• Characterizing near-surface winds over transitional ice zones and open water.

Strengths

• Data collection involved a sophisticated instrument suite, including the DAWN lidar operating at 2.05 microns with 250 mj per pulse.
• Campaigns gathered data from over 80 flight hours across 24 individual missions, providing substantial observational coverage.
• The dataset integrates measurements from two complementary systems: the DAWN wind lidar and nearly 100 dropsondes from the High Definition Sounding System (HDSS).

Limitations

• Column names and a complete data schema are not provided by any source platform, limiting immediate understanding of the data structure.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and a precise license are missing or conflicting across platforms.
• The temporal coverage is limited to two discrete campaign periods in late 2014 and mid-2015.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Airborne measurements collected via the NASA DC-8 and King Air UC-12B aircraft using the DAWN lidar and dropsonde systems.

Time Range

2014-10 to 2015-05

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:07:04.641493

Geography

Arctic region, specifically over and off the coasts of Greenland and Iceland.