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Full catalog/ARCSIX_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_P3B_Data
ARCSIX_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_P3B_Data·v1·dataset

Aircraft measurements of haze, dust, and smoke (Arctic field campaign)

ARCSIX P-3B In-Situ Aerosol Data
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2 ICARTT
In plain English

What it measures. Direct aircraft measurements of tiny airborne particles, haze, dust, and smoke over the Arctic, including their sizes, chemical makeup, and how they take up water and absorb light.

How it's made. Collected by a suite of specialized instruments flown aboard NASA's P-3B aircraft during the ARCSIX field campaign over Greenland in summer 2024.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists understand how particles and clouds affect Arctic sunlight and heat and contribute to sea-ice melt during the early melt season.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › BLACK CARBONATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL PARTICLE PROPERTIES › AEROSOL CONCENTRATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › SCATTERINGATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL PARTICLE PROPERTIES › AEROSOL SIZE DISTRIBUTIONATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › CLOUD CONDENSATION NUCLEIATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › SULFATE PARTICLESATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › NITRATE PARTICLESATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › ORGANIC PARTICLESATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AMMONIUM AEROSOLSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › HUMIDITY › RELATIVE HUMIDITYATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › SEA SALTATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › DUST/ASH/SMOKEATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL ABSORPTIONATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL EXTINCTION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-05-17 → 2024-08-18
  • Measured byP-3B (NMASS II, POPS, UHSAS, ToF-AMS, DASH-SP, FIMS, APS, CCN, TSI-3563 Neph, DMT SP2, PUTLS, TSI CPC-3772)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-105.18, 37, -7.9, 86.06
  • FormatsICARTT
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

ARCSIX_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_P3B_Data is the in-situ aerosol data collected onboard the P-3B aircraft during the Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction EXperiment (ARCSIX) campaign. Data from the Nucleation Mode Aerosol Size Spectrometer, Portable Optical Particle Spetrometer (POPS), Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer (UHSAS), Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (ToF-AMS), Differential Aerosol Sizing and Hygroscopicity Spectrometer Probe (DASH-SP), Fast Integrated Mobility Spectrometer (FIMS), Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (APS), Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (CCN), TSI Condensation Particle Counter 3772 (TSI CPC-3772), TSI-3563 Nephelometer, and the Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) are featured in this collection. Data collection for this product is complete. The ARCSIX campaign is a NASA field investigation aimed at quantifying the contributions of surface properties, clouds, aerosol particles, and precipitation to the Arctic summer surface radiation budget and sea ice melt during the early melt season. Based out of Greenland, ARCSIX completed two deployments from May – June 2024 and July - August 2024 utilizing the NASA P-3B, LaRC G-III, and SPEC-Learjet aircraft. The P-3B was equipped with in situ and remote sensing payloads to acquire measurements of aerosols, cloud, and radiation properties. The high-flying LaRC G-III was equipped with remote sensing instrumentation, including the HALO, and HSRL, along with the AVAPS dropsonde system. The SPEC-Learjet acquired measurements of cloud microphysics. Data were also collected at the Thule High Arctic Atmospheric Observatory (THAAO) in Pituffik, Greenland. The primary objective of ARCSIX was to enhance long-term space-based monitoring and predictive capabilities of Arctic sea ice, cloud, and aerosols by validating and improving remote sensing algorithms and model parameterizations in the Arctic. ARCSIX science questions focused on examining the impact of the predominant summer Arctic cloud types on the radiative surface energy budget, what processes control the evolution and maintenance of the predominant cloud types in the summertime Arctic, and how do the two-way interactions between surface properties and atmospheric forcings affect sea ice evolution?

Get the data

arcsix_aerosol_aircraftinsitu_p3b_data_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ARCSIX_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_P3B_Data",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LARC_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.