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    • ACTIVATE Falcon In Situ Cloud Data

    Metadata Updated: February 6, 2026

    ACTIVATE_Cloud_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data is the cloud 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.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date February 6, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NASA Data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date February 6, 2026
    Publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
    Maintainer
    Identifier 10.5067/ASDC/ACTIVATE_Cloud_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data_1
    Data Last Modified 2026-02-03
    Category Earth Science
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 026:00
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id 0fecaaa0-d58f-4c43-a5db-31d0d407446d
    Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
    Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
    Homepage URL https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/citing-data
    Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"Boundary":{"Points":{"Latitude":25,"Longitude":-85},{"Latitude":25,"Longitude":-58.5},{"Latitude":50,"Longitude":-58.5},{"Latitude":50,"Longitude":-85},{"Latitude":25,"Longitude":-85}}}, Maximum Altitude, 9999.9 Meters
    Program Code 026:000
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 08cede817d934822c6af1c89dc05fbf5074316172040ee86aa92635e300b0d7a
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 2020-02-14/2020-02-14

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