TRacking Aerosol Convection ExpeRiment – Air Quality

The Langley Mobile Ozone Lidar (LMOL) is an active remote sensor that utilizes a laser to measure atmospheric ozone and aerosols. LMOL is housed in a trailer so that it is easily transferred to different locations. The laser has a 287 nm and a 292 nm wavelength for ozone retrievals and a 527 nm wavelength for other aerosol retrievals. In addition, it has a 70 ns pulse width and a 7.5 m range resolution. LMOL is part of the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet), which is operated by NASA.

Ceilometers are ground-based, remote-sensing sensors that provide measurements of cloud ceilings and vertical visibility. They use either a laser beam or another light source to detect backscatter of clouds, precipitation, and aerosols. Ceilometers can provide detailed and accurate measurements in all types of weather conditions and have low operating costs. Ceilometers are typically used in boundary layer and cloud research applications.

This data will be added in future versions

The NASA Goddard Tropospheric Ozone Lidar (TROPOZ) is a mobile, ground-based lidar that is part of the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet). It uses the differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique to measure ozone at 289 nm and 299 nm. TROPOZ has a range resolution of 15 m, a repetition rate of 50 Hz, and can generate ozone profiles from 0.35 to 16 km above ground level.

GEOstationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) Airborne Simulator (GCAS) is an airborne push-broom instrument consisting of two spectrometers. It was developed by the Radiometric Calibration and Flight Development Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as a simulator for the GEO-CAPE mission. The first spectrometer in GCAS operates in the ultraviolet to visible (300-490 nm) range for air quality observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), formaldehyde (HCHO), and other trace gases. The second spectrometer operates in the visible to near-infrared (480-900 nm) to provide measurements of ocean color. GCAS has a typical spatial resolution of 250m across track and 500m along track at an altitude of 9 km and has a frame rate of 12 Hz.

The Second Generation High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2) is an airborne lidar developed by the NASA Langley Research Center. HSRL-2 measures aerosol backscatter at the 355, 532, and 1064 nm wavelengths and aerosol extinction at the 355 and 532 nm wavelengths. It has a horizontal resolution of 1-2 km and a vertical resolution of 15 m, and it takes measurements roughly every 0.5 seconds. It replaced the High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL).

The Pandora Spectrometer System is a ground-based UV-VIS spectrometer used to measure column amounts of trace gases in the atmosphere. It uses total optical absorption spectroscopy for retrievals of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and other trace gases. Pandora operates in the 280-525 nm spectral region at a resolution of 0.6 nm. It can make both direct sun and all-sky radiance measurements and has an overall measurement time of 80 seconds. Pandora is a part of a network of identical instruments known as the Pandonia Global Network.