TRACER-AQ: Airborne Remote Sensing of Houston Air Pollutants

Houston, Texas, and the surrounding Gulf Coast region are the focus of this airborne remote sensing dataset from the TRACER-AQ field campaign. It contains column measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO), plus ozone (O3) and aerosol vertical profiles, collected from a NASA Gulfstream V aircraft over 12 flight days. The data are intended for evaluating air quality models and satellite observations.

Use Cases

• Modeling ozone formation in the Houston Ship Channel based on column NO2 and HCHO measurements.
• Validating satellite-derived aerosol optical depth using coordinated HSRL-2 lidar vertical profiles.
• Analyzing spatial gradients of pollutants over Galveston Bay from airborne remote sensing transects.
• Studying the impact of meteorological conditions on pollution events using the coordinated 2021-2022 campaign data.

Strengths

• Data originates from a coordinated, multi-agency field campaign (NASA, TCEQ, DOE) with airborne, mobile, and ground-based assets.
• Provides specific pollutant measurements (column NO2, HCHO; O3 and aerosol profiles) from 12 dedicated flight days.
• Targets a major urban air quality problem during the peak ozone season (mid-August to late September 2021).

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are not provided in the available metadata.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-04-09 vs. 2021-09 29) across platforms create uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• The dataset's size, row count, and exact file formats beyond BIN, PDF, ISO, HTML are unknown.

Provenance

Source

NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC)

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data collected by the GEO-CAPE Airborne Simulator (GCAS) and High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2 (HSRL-2) onboard a NASA Gulfstream V aircraft.

Time Range

Primary campaign: mid-August to late September 2021; follow-up deployment: summer 2022.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:29:15.859245 (conflict with 2021-09-29 date noted)

Geography

Houston region, Texas, USA, including the Houston Ship Channel, Galveston Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico.