OWLETS-2 Ozonesonde Data

OWLETS2_Sondes_Data_1 is the Ozone Water-Land Environmental Transition Study (OWLETS-1) ozone data collected via synchronous ozonesonde launches at the Howard University Beltsville (HUBV) and University of Maryland Baltimore County over-land sites and Hart Miller Island over-water site during the OWLETS-2 field campaign. OWLETS was supported by the NASA Science Innovation Fund (SIF). Data collection is complete.Coastal regions have typically posed a challenge for air quality researchers due to a lack of measurements available over water and water-land boundary transitions. Supported by NASA’s Science Innovation Fund (SIF), the Ozone Water-Land Environmental Transition Study (OWLETS) field campaign examined ozone concentrations and gradients over the Chesapeake Bay from July 5, 2017 – August 3, 2017, with twelve intensive measurement days occurring during this time period. OWLETS utilized a unique combination of instrumentation, including aircraft, TOLNet ozone lidars (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Tropospheric Ozone Differential Absorption Lidar and NASA Langley Research Center Mobile Ozone Lidar), UAV/drones, ozonesondes, AERONET sun photometers, and mobile and ship-based measurements, to characterize the land-water differences in ozone and other pollutants. Two main research sites were established as part of the campaign: an over-land site at NASA LaRC, and an over-water site at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. These two research sites were established to provide synchronous vertical measurements of meteorology and pollutants over water and over land. In combination with mobile observations between the two sites, pollutant gradients were able to be observed and used to better understand the fundamental processes occurring at the land-water interface. OWLETS-2 was completed from June 6, 2018 – July 6, 2018 in the upper Chesapeake Bay region. Research sites were established at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Hart Miller Island (HMI), and Howard University Beltsville (HUBV), with HMI representing the over-water location and UMBC and HUBV representing the over-land sites. Similar measurements were carried out to further characterize water-land gradients in the upper Chesapeake Bay. The measurements completed during OWLETS are of importance in enhancing air quality models, and improving future satellite retrievals, particularly, NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, which is scheduled to launch in 2022.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated February 17, 2026, 03:07 (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 61c64914-f214-4f68-b85c-163a8cc16270
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/Suborbital/OWLETS-2/Sondes_Data_1
landingPage https://journals.ametsoc.org/bams/article/100/2/291/69189/The-Ozone-Water-Land-Environmental-Transition
modified 2026-02-16
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 11304209d435443f85281a150367592ffe24d299e23f4002a06f48e824ef4b99
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN",[{"Boundary":{"Points":[{"Latitude":36,"Longitude":-78},{"Latitude":36,"Longitude":-75},{"Latitude":41,"Longitude":-75},{"Latitude":41,"Longitude":-78},{"Latitude":36,"Longitude":-78}]}}]], Maximum Altitude, 9999.9 Meters
temporal 2018-06-07/2018-06-07
theme {"Earth Science"}