ASDC | ACTIVATE-MODIS-MERRA2

ACTIVATE Level 4

Entry Title: ACTIVATE Merged MODIS and MERRA-2 Dataset

Entry ID: ACTIVATE-MODIS-MERRA2_1

Clouds Radiation Budget

Description

ACTIVATE-MODIS-MERRA2 is the merged CERES MODIS and MERRA-2 dataset (pixel-level geostationary cloud products) produced by SatCORPS group at NASA Langley Research Center in support of ACTIVATE.

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.

DOI

10.5067/ASDC/SUBORBITAL/ACTIVATE-MODIS-MERRA2_1

View Citations

Resources and Documentation

Earthdata Forum

PROJECT HOME PAGE

ACTIVATE Project Home Page

ACTIVATE NASA LaRC Airborne Science Data for Atmospheric Composition Project Home Page

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DATA CITATION POLICY

Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0)
How to Cite ASDC Data

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

MICRO ARTICLE

ASDC Microarticle “Advancing Aerosol-Cloud-Meteorology Knowledge through ACTIVATE”

From GCMD Science Keywords:

CLOUD TOP PRESSURE > CLOUD PROPERTIES
CLOUD LIQUID WATER/ICE > CLOUD MICROPHYSICS
CLOUD TOP TEMPERATURE > CLOUD PROPERTIES
CLOUD BASE TEMPERATURE > CLOUD PROPERTIES
CLOUD AMOUNT > CLOUD PROPERTIES
CLOUD BASE HEIGHT > CLOUD PROPERTIES
RELATIVE HUMIDITY > HUMIDITY > WATER VAPOR INDICATORS
CLOUD BASE PRESSURE > CLOUD PROPERTIES
ICE WATER PATH > PRECIPITATION PROFILES
ALBEDO
APPARENT SURFACE REFLECTIVITY
CLOUD TOP HEIGHT > CLOUD PROPERTIES

Data Distribution

File Format(s):

.gz

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Spatial Information

Spatial Coverage: (0, 60), (-85, -25)
Spatial Coverage Type: Horizontal Vertical
Coordinate System: Cartesian
Granule Spatial Representation: Cartesian

Locations

NORTH AMERICA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ATLANTIC OCEAN NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN BERMUDA TROPOSPHERE MID-LATITUDE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Temporal Information

Temporal Coverage: 2013-01-01 - 2022-06-30

Platforms

Models

MERRA-2

The second Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications

Computer

Earth Observation Satellites

SATELLITES

MODIS

Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Metadata Dates

Created on 2023-02-23

Last updated on 2023-04-17