Atmospheric Carbon and Transport – America (ACT-America) Datasets:
Description, Management, and Delivery
Abstract
The ACT-America project is a NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-2 mission
designed to study the transport and fluxes of greenhouse gases. The open
and freely available ACT-America datasets provide airborne in-situ
measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, trace gases,
aerosols, clouds, and meteorological properties, airborne remote sensing
measurements of aerosol backscatter, atmospheric boundary layer height
and columnar content of atmospheric carbon dioxide, tower-based
measurements, and modeled atmospheric mole fractions and regional carbon
fluxes of greenhouse gases over the Central and Eastern United States.
We conducted 121 research flights during five campaigns in four seasons
during 2016-2019 over three regions of the US (Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and
South) using two NASA research aircraft (B-200 and C-130). We performed
three flight patterns (fair weather, frontal crossings, and OCO-2
underflights) and collected more than 1,140 hours of airborne
measurements via level-leg flights in the atmospheric boundary layer,
lower, and upper free troposphere and vertical profiles spanning these
altitudes. We also merged various airborne in-situ measurements onto a
common standard sampling interval, which brings coherence to the data,
creates geolocated data products, and makes it much easier for the users
to perform holistic analysis of the ACT-America data products. Here, we
report on detailed information of datasets collected, and the workflow
for datasets including storage and processing of the quality controlled
and quality assured harmonized observations, and their archival and
formatting for users. Finally, we provide some important information on
the dissemination of data products including metadata and highlights of
applications of datasets for future investigations.