ASIA-AQ was an opportunity for international collaboration, working with local partners to apply multi-perspective observations in a consistent strategy across interested Asian countries to improve both specific understanding of local air quality issues and general understanding of common challenges in the interpretation of satellite observations and modeling of air quality. ASIA-AQ was conducted in early 2024, with the deployment of several DC-8 and King Air research aircraft for airborne sampling across three to five locations in collaboration with scientists, air quality agencies, and relevant government entities of the region. AERONET played an important role linking surface, airborne, satellite and modeling results with high quality ground-based measurements from sites within the regions.
Improve understanding of the factors controlling local air quality across Asia through multi-perspective observations and modeling.
Conduct airborne sampling across three to five locations in collaboration with local scientists, air quality agencies, and other relevant government partners.
Openly share data during all phases, conduct joint analysis with local sicentists and air quality agencies, and report findings to local governments.
Focus on the mission-specific science topics: Satellite Validation and Interpretation, Emissions Quantification and Verification, Model Evaluation, Aerosol Chemistry, and Ozone Chemistry.
Data from the ASIA-AQ campaign is open, and can be accessed and visualized using a variety of methods. Two are included on this webpage. The first one is a collection of dynamic plot of near-real time Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements that date back up to 30 days. Options such as box zoom, hover, and reset are included to provide users with an interactive data viewing experience. Click on the hyperlinks below to select a specific country. The second method is a collection of static plots that show daily site averages AOD (500 nm), Angstrom Exponent (440-870 nm), and Precipitable Water (cm). Those are regularly updated, with past daily plots available to view and download in an archive. Data for AOD, SDA and Inversions (both Almucantar and Hybrid) for AERONET sites in South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines and Thailand is available to be downloaded as compressed files through the Combined Data Download table on this page. Data includes all points and daily averages for levels 1.0, 1.5 and (eventually) level 2.0 measurements. The data spans the first quarter of 2024, from January 1 to March 31, with final ASIA-AQ mission flight being conducted on March 27th, 2024.
This interactive map shows all sites that are part of the ASIA-AQ campaign (blue), as well as all permanent AERONET sites in the region (green). The table of sites below the map dynamically updates with site markers within the visual bounds, as well as based on the active filter button above the map. To view the full list of participating sites, click on one of the links below. The first list includes the entire ASIA-AQ domain, while the second list includes just the sites of countries formally participating in the campaign.
