ACTIVATE Falcon In Situ Aerosol Data

ACTIVATE_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data is the aerosol data collected onboard the HU-25 Falcon aircraft via in-situ instrumentation during the ACTIVATE project. ACTIVATE was a 5-year NASA Earth-Venture Sub-Orbital (EVS-3) field campaign. Marine boundary layer clouds play a critical role in Earth’s energy balance and water cycle. These clouds cover more than 45% of the ocean surface and exert a net cooling effect. The Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western Atlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) project was a five-year project that provides important globally-relevant data about changes in marine boundary layer cloud systems, atmospheric aerosols and multiple feedbacks that warm or cool the climate. ACTIVATE studied the atmosphere over the western North Atlantic and sampled its broad range of aerosol, cloud and meteorological conditions using two aircraft, the UC-12 King Air and HU-25 Falcon. The UC-12 King Air was primarily used for remote sensing measurements while the HU-25 Falcon will contain a comprehensive instrument payload for detailed in-situ measurements of aerosol, cloud properties, and atmospheric state. A few trace gas measurements were also onboard the HU-25 Falcon for the measurements of pollution traces, which will contribute to airmass classification analysis. A total of 150 coordinated flights over the western North Atlantic occurred through 6 deployments from 2020-2022. The ACTIVATE science observing strategy intensively targets the shallow cumulus cloud regime and aims to collect sufficient statistics over a broad range of aerosol and weather conditions which enables robust characterization of aerosol-cloud-meteorology interactions. This strategy was implemented by two nominal flight patterns: Statistical Survey and Process Study. The statistical survey pattern involves close coordination between the remote sensing and in-situ aircraft to conduct near coincident sampling at and below cloud base as well as above and within cloud top. The process study pattern involves extensive vertical profiling to characterize the target cloud and surrounding aerosol and meteorological conditions.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated August 10, 2026, 23:01 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 14:11 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id d8cf4309-1058-4b62-b58a-0a7be3c3a27d
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/ASDC/ACTIVATE_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data_1
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-08-03T22:16:02Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash d28c7f3d9c05a0b5c260e927bbba113c262a6cece6f8dd4397bf2d28cd251f44
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -85, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -58.5, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": 25, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 50}]], Maximum Altitude, 9999.9 Meters
temporal 2020-02-14/2022-06-30
theme {"Earth Science"}