Haze, dust and smoke measured from a plane over Asia
What it measures. Detailed measurements of airborne particles — haze, dust, and smoke — including their amount, size, and makeup, sampled directly in the air over several Asian countries.
How it's made. Collected by a suite of aerosol instruments aboard NASA's DC-8 aircraft during the ASIA-AQ air-quality campaign in early 2024.
How & where you'd use it. Helps improve air-quality monitoring across Asia and is used to check and improve satellite and ground-based pollution measurements.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2024-01-23 → 2024-04-02
- Measured byNASA DC-8 (TEM, AMS, DMT SP2, SMPS, APS, TSI-3563 Neph, DMT UHSAS, TSI CPC-3010, CCN)
- Processing levelLevel 2
- Spatial extent-180, 12.46, 180, 61.37
- FormatsICARTT, JPEG
- 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
ASIA-AQ_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_DC8_Data is the in-situ aerosol data collected onboard the DC-8 aircraft during the Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ) campaign. Data from the Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS), Single Particle Soot Photometer (DMT SP2), Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer (DMT UHSAS), Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), TSI-3563 Nephelometer, Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) counter, and Condensation Particle Counter (CPC) are featured in this collection. Data collection for this product is complete. The ASIA-AQ campaign was an international cooperative field study designed to address local air quality challenges. Conducted from January-March 2024, ASIA-AQ deployed multiple aircraft to collect in situ and remote sensing measurements, along with numerous ground-based observations and modeling assessments. Data was collected over four countries including, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand and flights were conducted in full partnership with local scientists and environmental agencies responsible for air quality monitoring and assessment. One of the primary goals of ASIA-AQ was to contribute improving integration of satellite observations with existing air quality ground monitoring and modeling efforts across Asia. Air quality observations from satellites are evolving with new capabilities from South Korea’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), which conducts hourly measurements to provide a new view of air quality conditions from space that complements and depends upon ground-based monitoring efforts of countries in its field of view. ASIA-AQ science goals focused on satellite validation and interpretation, emissions quantification and verification, model evaluation, aerosol chemistry, and ozone chemistry.
Get the data
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="ASIA-AQ_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_DC8_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. Official links
- How to Cite ASDC Data VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) polarization characteristics and correction algorithm VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Earthdata Search for ASIA-AQ_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_DC8_Data_1 (NASA Application to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data) GET DATA