WNA-FLEXPART-BackTraj-2000: Western North America Air Mass Trajectories

WNA-FLEXPART-BackTraj-2000 is a 2000 Western North America Back Trajectory dataset generated by NASA using the FLEXPART dispersion model. It provides 15-day backward simulations to establish source-receptor relationships for tropospheric ozone observations, with hourly temporal and 1° x 1° spatial resolution from the surface to 20 km altitude. The model output supports analysis of source contributions from different geospatial regions and atmospheric layers over nearly three decades.

Use Cases

• Attributing ozone source regions based on 15-day backward trajectory calculations.
• Analyzing seasonal or decadal trends in atmospheric transport patterns over Western North America.
• Investigating vertical layer contributions to observed ozone concentrations using the detailed receptor information.
• Supporting source contribution analyses for other atmospheric components co-located with the ozone observation receptors.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution global simulations at hourly temporal and 1° x 1° spatial scales.
• Covers a long observational period, with receptor data matched to observations from 1994 to 2021.
• Includes detailed vertical information, simulating transport from the surface up to 20 km altitude.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; column names and exact row counts are unknown.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date between sources (2000-12-31 vs. 2026-04-10).
• The specific license is noted only as 'other-license-specified' without further details.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Generated using the FLEXible PARTicle (FLEXPART) dispersion model driven by ERA5 reanalysis data.

Time Range

1994-2021 (for matched ozone observations); model data is for the year 2000.

Freshness

2026-04-10 19:48:55.788065

Geography

Western North America, with global simulation capability for source regions.