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    • Aeolus CalVal Dropsonde Profiles

    Metadata Updated: April 10, 2026

    Aeolus-CalVal-Dropsondes_DC8_1 is the Aeolus CalVal Dropsonde Profiles data product. Data was collected using Dropsondes from the Douglas (DC-8) Aircraft. Data collection for this product is complete. NASA conducted an airborne campaign from 17 April to 30 April 2019 to: 1) demonstrate the performance of the Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN) and High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) instruments across a range of aerosol, cloud, and weather conditions; 2) compare these measurements with the European Space Agency Aeolus mission to gain an initial perspective of Aeolus performance in preparation for a future international Aeolus Cal/Val airborne campaign; and 3) demonstrate how weather processes can be resolved and better understood through simultaneous airborne wind, water vapor (WV), and aerosol profile observations, coupled with numerical model and other remote sensing observations. Five NASA DC-8 aircraft flights, comprising 46 flight hours, were conducted over the Eastern Pacific and Southwest U.S., based out of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA and Kona, HI. Yankee Environmental Systems, Inc High Definition Sounding System (HDSS) eXpendable Digitial Dropsondes (XDD) were used to validate the DAWN and Aeolus wind observations. The LaRC Diode Laser Hygrometer instrument, which was integrated on the DC-8 in preparation for another NASA airborne campaign, provided in-situ WV measurements used during one flight to validate HALO and dropsonde WV profile products.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date April 10, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NASA Data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date April 10, 2026
    Publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
    Maintainer
    Identifier 10.5067/Airborne/Aeolus-CalVal-Dropsondes_DC8_1
    Data Last Modified 2026-04-06
    Category Earth Science
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 026:00
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id 0413953d-8ed1-4102-bbc2-50f98c1a3394
    Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
    Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
    License https://www.usa.gov/government-works
    Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"Boundary":{"Points":{"Latitude":5,"Longitude":-159},{"Latitude":5,"Longitude":-113},{"Latitude":52,"Longitude":-113},{"Latitude":52,"Longitude":-159},{"Latitude":5,"Longitude":-159}}}, Maximum Altitude, 12.75 km
    Program Code 026:000
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 2a5901f18026336099930016a5686d299b25e2d91637376b46c67b8debec03b2
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 2019-04-18/2019-04-30

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