ORACLES Navigational and Meteorological Data

ORACLES_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_Data are in situ meteorological and navigational measurements collected onboard the P-3 Orion or ER-2 aircraft during the ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) campaign. These measurements were collected from August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016, August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017 and September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018. ORACLES provides multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments on the planet. The P-3 Orion aircraft was utilized as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds and was supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing during the 2016 campaign. Data collection for this product is complete. Southern Africa produces almost one-third of the Earth’s biomass burning aerosol particles. The ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) experiment was a five year investigation with three intensive observation periods (August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016; August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017; September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018) and was designed to study key processes that determine the climate impacts of African biomass burning aerosols. ORACLES provided multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of the key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments. These inter-model differences in aerosol and cloud distributions, as well as their combined climatic effects in the SE Atlantic are partly due to the persistence of aerosols above clouds. The varying separation of cloud and aerosol layers sampled during ORACLES allow for a process-oriented understanding of how variations in radiative heating profiles impact cloud properties, which is expected to improve model simulations for other remote regions experience long-range aerosol transport above clouds. ORACLES utilized two NASA aircraft, the P-3 and ER-2. The P-3 was used as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds in all three campaigns, supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing in 2016. ER-2 observations will be used to enhance satellite-based remote sensing by resolving variability within a particular scene, and by guiding the development of new and improved remote sensing techniques.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated May 18, 2026, 20:49 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 18:21 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 02ba2a65-6187-4ed2-a77c-136741890eea
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/ASDC_DAAC/ORACLES_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_Data_1
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-05-14T22:12:40Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash f86e069401380fcc1e07dbc2392fa0b7ad3154f2d45529cde78cf93af60a45e4
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN",[{"Boundary":{"Points":[{"Latitude":-70,"Longitude":-77},{"Latitude":-70,"Longitude":40},{"Latitude":41,"Longitude":40},{"Latitude":41,"Longitude":-77},{"Latitude":-70,"Longitude":-77}]}}]], Maximum Altitude, 99999.9 Meters
temporal 2016-08-02/2018-10-27
theme {"Earth Science"}