SONEX: Aircraft Emission Impact on Atmospheric Chemistry

SONEX_Merge_DC8_Data_1 contains merged in-situ atmospheric measurements from the 1997 SONEX/POLINAT-2 aircraft campaign. The dataset includes 1- and 5-minute merges of parameters like nitrogen oxides, ozone, hydrocarbons, aerosols, water vapor, and meteorological variables. Flights targeted the North Atlantic Flight Corridor to study the impact of subsonic aircraft emissions on upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric chemistry.

Use Cases

• Analyzing perturbations to ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from aircraft emissions based on in-situ chemical measurements.
• Studying the impact of meteorological events like convection and stratospheric intrusions on pollutant dispersion using merged meteorological and chemical data.
• Modeling radiative forcing changes by correlating aircraft-emitted water vapor, soot, and sulfur oxides (SOx) with aerosol and cloud observations.
• Investigating hydrocarbon and halocarbon distributions in the North Atlantic flight corridor to assess emission impacts.

Strengths

• Data collection is explicitly stated as complete across all sources.
• Represents an international, multi-organizational mission (NASA and German DLR) with coordinated aircraft sampling.
• Includes multiple specialized merge products (e.g., aerosol composition-based, HNO3-based) allowing for focused analysis.

Limitations

• Column names and dataset size (row count) are not provided by any source, limiting immediate usability.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (1997 and 2026) suggest metadata inconsistency across platforms.
• Specific license details are not provided beyond 'other-license-specified'.

Provenance

Source

NASA/Ames Research Center (DC-8 aircraft) and German Aerospace Agency (DLR) Falcon 20 aircraft.

Collection Method

In-situ measurements from aircraft flights during the October-November 1997 SONEX/POLINAT-2 campaign.

Time Range

October-November 1997.

Freshness

Most recent update recorded is 2026-04-09, though this conflicts with an earlier 1997 date.

Geography

North Atlantic Flight Corridor, with primary staging in Bangor, Maine (USA) and Shannon, Ireland.