ASDC | ORACLES_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_Data

ORACLES Level 2

Entry Title: ORACLES Aerosol Cloud Aircraft Remote Sensing Data

Entry ID: ORACLES_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_Data_1

Aerosols Clouds

Description

ORACLES_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_Data are remotely sensed aerosol and cloud measurements collected onboard the P-3 Orion or ER-2 aircraft during the ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) campaign. These measurements were collected from August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016, August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017 and September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018. ORACLES provides multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments on the planet. The P-3 Orion aircraft was utilized as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds and was supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing during the 2016 campaign. Data collection for this product is complete.

Southern Africa produces almost one-third of the Earth’s biomass burning aerosol particles. The ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) experiment was a five year investigation with three intensive observation periods (August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016; August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017; September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018) and was designed to study key processes that determine the climate impacts of African biomass burning aerosols. ORACLES provided multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of the key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments. These inter-model differences in aerosol and cloud distributions, as well as their combined climatic effects in the SE Atlantic are partly due to the persistence of aerosols above clouds. The varying separation of cloud and aerosol layers sampled during ORACLES allow for a process-oriented understanding of how variations in radiative heating profiles impact cloud properties, which is expected to improve model simulations for other remote regions experience long-range aerosol transport above clouds. ORACLES utilized two NASA aircraft, the P-3 and ER-2. The P-3 was used as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds in all three campaigns, supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing in 2016. ER-2 observations will be used to enhance satellite-based remote sensing by resolving variability within a particular scene, and by guiding the development of new and improved remote sensing techniques.

DOI

10.5067/ASDC_DAAC/ORACLES_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_Data_1

Citation Styles for this Dataset

Resources and Documentation

Earthdata Forum

PROJECT HOME PAGE

ESPO home page for ORACLES

ORACLES Enhanced Modis Airborne Simulator (eMAS) Data

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

DATA CITATION POLICY

How to cite ASDC data

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

NASA Airborne Science ORACLES Posts
ORACLES Data on the Sub-Orbital Order Tool (SOOT) Power User Interface (UI)

PUBLICATIONS

NASA Earth Expeditions ORACLES Posts

NASA.gov Article “Looking back at the science and lessons learned from ORACLES”

NASA.gov Article “Making It Work in the Field with ORACLES”

ORACLES Mission Overview

From GCMD Science Keywords:

AEROSOL BACKSCATTER
CLOUDS
AEROSOLS
AEROSOL EXTINCTION
CLOUD PROPERTIES
AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESS
CLOUD DROPLET DISTRIBUTION
CLOUD TOP HEIGHT > CLOUD PROPERTIES

Data Distribution

File Format(s):

ICARTT , HDF5 , NetCDF-3 , NetCDF-4

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Spatial Information

Spatial Coverage: (S: -76, N: 45), (W: -126, E: 40)
Spatial Coverage Type: Horizontal Vertical
Coordinate System: Cartesian
Granule Spatial Representation: Cartesian

Locations

CONTINENT AFRICA SOUTHERN AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC REGION SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE OCEAN ATLANTIC OCEAN SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN VERTICAL LOCATION TROPOSPHERE

Temporal Information

Temporal Coverage: 2016-07-28 - 2019-03-23

Platforms

Jet

NASA ER-2

NASA Earth Resources-2

HSRL-2

RSP-2

Research Scanning Polarimeter - 2

Propeller

NASA P-3

RSP-2

Research Scanning Polarimeter - 2

RSP-1

Research Scanning Polarimeter - 1

HSRL-2

AMPR

Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer

APR-3

Third Generation Airborne Precipitation Radar

Metadata Dates

Created on 2020-02-12

Last updated on 2023-05-23