SARP 2010 Data: NASA Airborne Science Measurements

NASA's Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) collected this data onboard a DC-8 aircraft during its 2010 deployment. The dataset likely contains in-situ measurements of atmospheric gases and surface imagery across multiple spectral bands. Research areas include atmospheric chemistry, forest ecology, air quality, and ocean biology.

Use Cases

• Analyzing atmospheric concentrations of trace gases like methane, carbon monoxide, and chlorofluorocarbons based on described column names.
• Calibrating or validating satellite observations using in-situ airborne measurements as described in the mission purpose.
• Studying spatial patterns of ocean biology or forest ecology using multi-spectral imagery collected from the aircraft.
• Investigating Earth system processes by correlating atmospheric chemistry data with concurrent meteorological measurements like wind speed and temperature.

Strengths

• Data collection is explicitly stated as complete for the 2010 and 2014 deployments.
• Program has been active since 2009, indicating a mature and established research framework.
• Data originates from a major NASA Airborne Science Program flying laboratory, suggesting high instrument quality.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts: 'last updated' dates are inconsistent (2014 vs. 2026), and row counts, sizes, and specific column lists are unavailable.
• Data descriptions are sparse; the exact structure, format, and accessibility of the files (ISO, BIN, HTML) are unclear.
• License information is listed as 'other-license-specified' without further detail, creating uncertainty for reuse.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected onboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) field campaign.

Time Range

2010

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 2014-06-26 on nasa_earthdata vs. 2026-04-09 on datagov.

Geography

Coverage is defined by the flight paths of the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the 2010 SARP deployment; specific regions are not stated.