ASDC | Accessing Airborne and Field Campaign Data with the Sub-Orbital Order Tool

Accessing Airborne and Field Campaign Data with the Sub-Orbital Order Tool

Suborbital campaigns serve as a key component of the integrated observing system of the atmosphere by linking satellite observations and surface measurements, as well as probing atmospheric phenomena critical to climate change and air quality issues. These suborbital campaigns often deploy many instruments on different platforms, including aircraft, ships, sondes, mobile, and ground sites, to collect necessary data to gain fundamental understanding of the atmosphere. The instrument payloads of the field campaigns are designed to provide detailed and comprehensive characterizations of the targeted processes. The data products, therefore, tend to encompass a wide, complex array of variables and sampling techniques. The distinctive nature of the measurement variables commonly associated with suborbital data necessitate a suitable approach to data ingest, archive, discovery, and distribution.

The Sub-Orbital Order Tool (SOOT) has been developed by the NASA Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) to address the attributes specific to suborbital data. SOOT aims to streamline data discovery and accessibility. The inaugural roll out of SOOT introduces a Power User Interface (UI) intended for experienced airborne data users and airborne science teams. The SOOT Power UI enables data exploration via metadata attributes such as platform or Principal Investigator (PI). The SOOT Power UI has robust campaign metadata representation to allow for enhanced data search capabilities. This interface allows subject matter experts to quickly navigate to a particular instrument PI and the correlating data files needed for their analysis. Detailed information on the specific search capabilities of the SOOT Power UI is available in this ArcGIS StoryMap. Additional improvements will be made to SOOT in the future, such as incorporating data from additional missions as well as allowing the data user to create and download merged data files.

Datasets

The ASDC archives suborbital campaign data that scientists can use to understand atmospheric science topics. At initial release, the SOOT Power UI will allow users to access data from the Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) campaign, the Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE), the Aeolus Calibration/Validation (Cal/Val) campaign (Aeolus Cal/Val), the Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX), the Arctic Radiation – Icebridge Sea & Ice Experiment (ARISE), the Clouds, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes-Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex), the Convective Processes Experiment - Aerosols and Wind campaign (CPEX-AW), the Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere (DCOTSS) campaign, the Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) campaign, the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign, the Long Island Sound Tropospheric Ozone Study (LISTOS), the Lake Michigan Ozone Study (LMOS), the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES),the ObseRvations of Aerosols above Clouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) campaign, the Ozone Water-Land Environmental Transition Study (OWLETS), and the Satellite Coastal and Oceanic Atmospheric Pollution Experiment (SCOAPE). Suborbital data from additional campaigns which are currently archived at the ASDC will be added to SOOT in later development stages.

The SOOT Power UI release allows scientists seeking suborbital data to quickly acquire the data files they need by using streamlined functionalities. The hyperlinks below each table can be used to explore currently available data related to given missions on the SOOT Power UI.