Spatially coordinated airborne data and complementary products for aerosol, gas, cloud, and meteorological studies: the NASA ACTIVATE dataset

• DOI: 10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023
• Publication Date: 2023-08-03T10:45:22Z
• Authors: Armin Sorooshian; Mikhail D. Alexan...; Adam D. Bell; Ryan Bennett; Grace Betito; Sharon P. Burton; Megan E. Buzanowicz; Brian Cairns; Eduard V. Chemyakin; Gao Chen; Yonghoon Choi; Brian L. Collister; Anthony L. Cook; Andrea F. Corral; Ewan C. Crosbie; Bastiaan van Died...; Joshua P. DiGangi; Glenn S. Diskin; Sanja Dmitrovic; Eva-Lou Edwards; Marta A. Fenn; Richard A. Ferrare; David van Gilst; Johnathan W. Hair; David B. Harper; Miguel Ricardo A....; Chris A. Hostetler; Nathan Jester; Michael Jones; Simon Kirschler; Mary M. Kleb; John M. Kusterer; Sean Leavor; Joseph W. Lee; Hongyu Liu; Kayla McCauley; Richard H. Moore; Joseph Nied; Anthony Notari; John B. Nowak; David Painemal; Kasey E. Phillips; Claire E. Robinson; Amy Jo Scarino; Joseph S. Schlosser; Shane T. Seaman; Chellappan Seethala; Taylor J. Shingler; Michael A. Shook; Kenneth A. Sinclair; William L. Smith Jr.; Douglas A. Spange...; Snorre A. Stamnes; Kenneth L. Thornhill; Christiane Voigt; Holger Vömel; Andrzej P. Wasile...; Hailong Wang; Edward L. Winstead; Kira Zeider; Xubin Zeng; Bo Zhang; Luke D. Ziemba; Paquita Zuidema
• Keywords: Trace gas; Merge (version control); Ceilometer

Abstract. The NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) produced a unique dataset for research into aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions, with applications extending from process-based studies to multi-scale model intercomparison and improvement as well remote-sensing algorithm assessments advancements. ACTIVATE used two Langley Research Center aircraft, HU-25 Falcon King Air, conduct systematic spatially coordinated flights over northwest Atlantic Ocean, resulting in 162 joint 17 other single-aircraft between 2020 2022 across all seasons. Data cover 574 592 cumulative hours respectively. conducted profiling at different level legs below, in, just above boundary layer clouds (< 3 km) obtained situ measurements of trace gases, aerosol particles, clouds, atmospheric state parameters. Under cloud-free conditions, similarly within immediately layer. Air (the high-flying aircraft) flew approximately ∼ 9 km remote sensing lidar polarimeter while also launching dropsondes (785 total). Collectively, simultaneous data both aircraft help characterize same vertical column atmosphere. In addition individual instrument files, are combined “merge files” on publicly available archive that created time resolutions interest (e.g., 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 s, or matching an product's start stop times). This paper describes flight strategy, complementary products, access usage details, application notes. accessible through https://doi.org/10.5067/SUBORBITAL/ACTIVATE/DATA001 (ACTIVATE Science Team, 2020).