AirMSPI Level 1B2 V006 New Data for NASA's ORACLES Campaign

The NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announces the public release of Version 006 of the Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) Level 1B2 data products for the ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) flight campaign.

AirMSPI flies in the nose of NASA's high-altitude ER-2 aircraft. The instrument was built by JPL and the University of Arizona under NASA’s Instrument Incubator and Airborne Instrument Technology Transition Programs, and is aimed primarily at remote sensing of the amounts and microphysical properties of aerosols and clouds.

AirMSPI Level 1B2 products contain radiometric and polarimetric images of clouds, aerosols, and the surface of the Earth. In particular, products contain map-projected data at 8 wavelengths: 355, 380, 445, 470, 555, 660, 865, and 935 nm. The data products include radiance, time, solar zenith, solar azimuth, view zenith, and view azimuth for all spectral bands. Wavelengths for which polarization information is available (470, 660, and 865 nm) also include the Stokes parameters Q and U, as well as degree of linear polarization (DOLP) and angle of linear polarization (AOLP). Q, U, and AOLP are reported relative to both the scattering- and view meridional planes. Files are distributed in HDF-EOS-5 format.

This release of AirMPSI data contains all targets acquired during the ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) flight campaign, including the check-out and transit flights. ORACLES was based out of Walvis Bay, Namibia and focused on the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Namibia and Angola. AirMSPI was acquired from July 28 to October 6, 2016. More details about the ORACLES campaign and AirMSPI participation can be found at https://espo.nasa.gov/oracles.

Information about these products, details about product quality, and mechanisms to access the data can be found under AirMSPI Data and Information at the ASDC website. Please check back often as new products are continuing to be added and made available for ordering.