Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

TRACE-A DC-8 In-Situ Trace Gas Data

Metadata Updated: August 29, 2025

TRACE-A_TraceGas_AircraftInSitu_DC8_Data is the in-situ trace gas data collected onboard the DC-8 aircraft during the Transport and Atmospheric Chemistry near the Equator - Atlantic (TRACE-A) suborbital campaign. Data from the Two Photon - Laser Induced Fluorescence (TP-LIF) and Differential Absorption of CO, CH4, N2O Measurements (DACOM) instruments are featured in this collection. Data collection for this product is complete.The TRACE-A mission was a part of NASA’s Global Tropospheric Experiment (GTE) – an assemblage of missions conducted from 1983-2001 with various research goals and objectives. TRACE-A was conducted in the Atlantic from September 21 to October 24, 1992. TRACE-A had the objective of determining the cause and source of the high concentrations of ozone that accumulated over the Atlantic Ocean between southern Africa and South America from August to October. NASA partnered with the Brazilian Space Agency (INPE) to accomplish this goal.  The NASA DC-8 aircraft and ozonesondes were utilized during TRACE-A to collect the necessary data. The DC-8 was equipped with 19 instruments. A few instruments on the DC-8 include the Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL), the Laser-Induced Fluorescence, the O3-NO Ethylene/Forward Scattering Spectrometer, the Modified Licor, and the DACOM IR Laser Spectrometer. The DIAL was responsible for a variety of measurements, which include Nadir IR aerosols, Nadir UV aerosols, Zenith IR aerosols, Zenith VS aerosols, ozone, and ozone column. The Laser-Induced Fluorescence instrument collected measurements on NxOy in the atmosphere. Measurements of ozone were recorded by the O3-NO Ethylene/Forward Scattering Spectrometer while the Modified Licor recorded CO2. Finally, the DACOM IR Laser Spectrometer gathered an assortment of data points, including CO, O3, N2O, CH4, and CO2. Ozonesondes played a role in data collection for TRACE-A along with the DC-8 aircraft. The sondes were dropped from the DC-8 aircraft in order to gather data on ozone, temperature, and atmospheric pressure.

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 August 29, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date August 29, 2025
Publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
Maintainer
Identifier 10.5067/ASDC/SUBORBITAL/TRACE-A/TraceGas_AircraftInSitu_DC8_Data_1
Data Last Modified 2025-08-28
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 788b7659-938a-4188-a325-dae28d516590
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://www-gte.larc.nasa.gov/trace/tra_hmpg.htm
Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"NorthBoundingCoordinate":43.575,"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"EastBoundingCoordinate":58.68,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-59.98}
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash f93b690138f2b4d948d2fe5a0639a90aaec284874c58f0009a8b33b3b632207e
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial
Temporal 1990-03-13/1990-03-13

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.