The PACE-PAX campaign is an opportunity to assist in validating the new data products of the PACE mission, which was launched in February 2024. The mission will take place in the coastal areas of South and Central California, with more than sixty flight hours planned for the research aircraft. Known as the NASA ER-2 and the CIPRAS Twin Otter, both aircraft will operate from their home bases at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and Marina Municipal Airport, with flight schedules carefully synchronized with the PACE satellite overflights and surface-based measurements from naval vessels. The collected data will be released to the public within six months after the conclusion of the mission. More details can be found on the NASA PACE website.
Data from the PACE-PAX campaign is open, and can be accessed and visualized using a variety of methods. Three 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. 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). Data for AOD, SDA and Inversions (both Almucantar and Hybrid) for participating AERONET sites in California, Arizona and Nevada are available for download 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. Timeseries plots (both daily and full range) can also be found on this page for the shipborne instrument. The data spans the month of September 2024, with final PACE-PAX mission flights being conducted on September 27th, 2024.
Interactive AOD graphs of participating AERONET sites:
The interactive map shows all AERONET sites that are part of the PACE-PAX campaign (green), as well as permanent sites that are not actively participating (red). 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. In addition to that, the cruise vessel data is updated daily with trajectories, and summary data (hourly averages) are shown as circle markers on the map. The circle markers are color-coded according to AOD value, and date and level data dropdowns are available to filter the shipborne data.
A full list of participating sites can be found in the links below. The first list includes all active sites in California, Nevada and Arizona, while the second list includes the sites formally participating in the campaign.
