Western North America Air Mass Back Trajectories for Ozone Analysis

Hourly, 15-day backward air mass trajectories simulate source-receptor relationships for ozone observations over Western North America. The dataset, generated by NASA's LARC ASDC using the FLEXPART model driven by ERA5 reanalysis, covers receptor points from 1994 to 2021. It provides global simulations at a 1° x 1° spatial resolution from the surface to 20 km altitude.

Use Cases

• Analyzing source contributions to tropospheric ozone levels at specific receptor locations using gridded ozone value columns.
• Identifying seasonal or decadal patterns in air mass transport influencing Western North American air quality.
• Supporting source contribution analyses for other atmospheric components co-located with the ozone observation receptors.
• Studying vertical transport dynamics across atmospheric layers from the surface up to 20 km.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution simulations with hourly temporal and 1° x 1° spatial granularity.
• Covers a long temporal range of nearly three decades (1994-2021) for trend analysis.
• Models global air mass transport up to 20 km altitude, capturing complex atmospheric dynamics.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, listing both 2009-12-31 and 2026-03-12.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Atmospheric Composition Campaign Data Analysis and Modeling program, processed by LARC ASDC.

Collection Method

Generated using the FLEXPART Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model driven by ERA5 reanalysis data.

Time Range

1994-2021

Freshness

2026-03-12 19:50:11.300959

Geography

Global simulations with receptor focus over Western North America.