Data coverage
This dataset provides observations collected during eleven airborne campaigns from 2006–2017 and associated input and output from nine widely used chemical transport models (CTMs). The airborne campaigns include ARCTAS-A, ARCTAS-B, ATom-1 and ATom-2, CalNex, DC3, INTEX-B, KORUS-AQ, MILAGRO, SEAC4RS, and WINTER, and they sampled mainly tropospheric air over the conterminous U.S. and the state of Alaska, Mexico, Canada, Greenland, and South Korea and remote areas over the Arctic, Pacific, Southern, and Atlantic Oceans. The CTMs are the AM4.1, CCSM4, GEOS-5, GEOS-Chem TOMAS, GEOS-Chem v10, GEOS-Chem v12, GISS-MATRIX, GISS-ModelE, and TM4-ECPL-F, and the output includes sulfate, nitrate, temperature, specific humidity, mixing ratio of ammonium, the volume mixing ratio of nitric acid, surface pressure, gas-phase ammonia, gas-phase nitric acid, pressure, total ammonium, etc. The observations were collected in-situ from a variety of instruments, including the Aerosol Microphysical Properties (AMP), HR Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS), CIT Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (CIMS), diode laser hygrometer (DLH), a mist chamber/ion chromatography system (MC/IC), Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometer (PALMS), Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2), and UCI Whole Air Sampler (WAS). In-situ data also include latitude, longitude, and pressure. These observations were used to investigate how aerosol pH and ammonium balance change from polluted to remote regions, such as over oceans, and were compared to predictions from the CTMs. ATomCAFSInstrumentDataV21933 This dataset contains actinic flux and photolysis frequencies for photodissociation reactions for a variety of chemical species during the four ATom campaigns. Spectrally resolved actinic flux was measured by the down- and up-welling Charged-coupled device Actinic Flux Spectroradiometers (CAFS) from approximately 280-650 nm. Photolysis frequencies were calculated from the actinic flux and published cross sections and quantum yield values for atmospherically relevant molecules. Solar radiation drives the chemistry of the atmosphere, including the evolution of ozone, greenhouse gases, biomass burning, and other anthropogenic and natural trace constituents. ATomSOAPInstrumentData1898 This dataset contains one-second aerosol extinction and absorption measurements from the Spectrometers for Optical Aerosol Properties (SOAP) instrument aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the ATom-4 campaign that occurred in 2018. SOAP is a compact, low maintenance instrument that measures aerosol extinction and absorption at 532 nm. Aerosol extinction is measured by cavity ringdown spectroscopy and aerosol absorption by photoacoustic spectroscopy. Extinction is measured with sufficient precision and accuracy for the remote atmosphere. The absorption measurements are valid only in strongly absorbing cases, such as in dilute plumes from wildfire smoke. The absorption and extinction of visible light by aerosol particles is a major component of the earth's radiation budget, strongly affecting climate. Highly absorbing particles directly heat the atmosphere, while particles that scatter light tend to cool the atmosphere. Extinction is the sum of absorption and scattering; in most cases scattering represents >90% of extinction, with absorption making up the remainder. These aerosol-radiation interactions also alter air temperature and the rates of photochemical reactions. ATomHIPPOORCAS1788 This dataset provides calculated age of air (AoA) and the argon/nitrogen (Ar/N2) ratio (per meg) from stratospheric flask samples and simultaneous high-frequency measurements of nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), methane (CH4), and carbon monoxide (CO) compiled from three airborne projects. The trace gases were used to identify 235 flask samples with stratospheric influence collected by the Medusa Whole Air Sampler and to calculate AoA using a new N2O-AoA relationship developed using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm. The data span a wide range of latitudes poleward of 40 degrees in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and cover the period 2009-01-10 to 2018-05-21. ATomnav1613 This dataset provides flight track and aircraft navigation data from the NASA Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom). Flight track information is available for the four ATom campaigns: ATom-1, ATom-2, ATom-3, and ATom-4. Each ATom campaign consists of multiple individual flights and flight navigational information is recorded in 10-second intervals. Data available for each flight includes research flight number, date, and start and stop time of each 10-second interval. In addition, latitude, longitude, altitude, pressure and temperature is included at each 10-second interval. NASA's ATom campaign deploys an extensive gas and aerosol payload on the NASA DC-8 aircraft for systematic, global-scale sampling of the atmosphere, profiling continuously from 0.2 to 12 km altitude. Flights occurred in each of 4 seasons from 2016 to 2018. During each campaign, flights originate from the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, fly north to the western Arctic, south to the South Pacific, east to the Atlantic, north to Greenland, and return to California across central North America. ATom establishes a single, contiguous, global-scale dataset. One intended use of this flight track data is to facilitate to mapping model results from global models onto the precise ATom flight tracks for comparison. ATomRadMeasurementsARMAS1906 This dataset contains Level 2 (L2) absorbed radiation dose rates in silicon from the Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) system along ATom flight paths for the ATom-1 campaign conducted in July and August 2016. Absorbed dose rates measure how much energy is deposited in matter by ionizing radiation per unit time. The radiation sources can be from galactic cosmic rays, solar energetic particles, or Van Allen radiation belt energetic particles. Radiation can have adverse effects on human tissue and aerospace electronics, as well as profound effects on chemical species in the atmosphere, making them important to consider in atmospheric modeling and analyses. In this context, the derived ambient equivalent dose rates are also provided and relate the absorbed dose in human tissue to the effective biological damage of the radiation through a radiation weighting factor. In addition, visualizations of absorbed radiation dose for ATom-1 flight paths are included. The visualizations show the absorbed dose rates in silicon in the upper panel and the 3D representation of the flight in the bottom panel. ATomFlightTrackInfluences1889 This dataset contains back trajectories, boundary layer influences, and convective influences of air parcels along NASA DC-8 aircraft's flight tracks during the four ATom campaigns that occurred from 2016 to 2018. Back trajectories were interpolated using National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) and Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA2) meteorology. Back trajectory analysis determines the origin of air masses by modeling the path of an air parcel backward in time. It can be used to better understand the sources of atmospheric compounds. Boundary layer Influences were determined based on 30 Day Back Trajectories. The atmospheric boundary layer is the lowest part of the troposphere that is directly influenced by earth's surface. The boundary layer influences wind patterns and thus the dispersal of pollutants and other atmospheric compounds of interest. Convective influences were based on 10 Day Back Trajectories and NASA Langley cloud products. Convective influences model the effects of convection on the movement of water vapor through the atmosphere, which influences cloud behavior. ATomCarbonAerosolLoadings1618 This dataset provides black carbon (BC) mass mixing ratios (in units of
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