Description

The First ISCCP Regional Experiments have been designed to improve data products and cloud/radiation parameterizations used in general circulation models (GCMs). Specifically, the goals of FIRE are (1) to seek the basic understanding of the interaction of physical processes in determining life cycles of cirrus and marine stratocumulus systems and the radiative properties of these clouds during their life cycles and (2) to investigate the interrelationships between ISCCP data, GCM parameterizations, and higher space and time resolution cloud data. To-date, four intensive field-observation periods were planned and executed: a cirrus IFO (October 13 - November 2, 1986); a marine stratocumulus IFO off the southwestern coast of California (June 29 - July 20, 1987); a second cirrus IFO in southeastern Kansas (November 13 - December 7, 1991); and a second marine stratocumulus IFO in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean (June 1 - June 28, 1992). Each mission combined coordinated satellite, airborne, and surface observations with modeling studies to investigate the cloud properties and physical processes of the cloud systems. The MODIS Airbourne Simulator (MAS) is a modified Daedalus Wildfire scanning spectrometer which flies on a NASA ER-2 and provides spectral information similar to that which will be provided by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), scheduled to be launched on the EOS-AM platform in 1998 (King et al. 1992). The principal investigators for the MAS are Dr. Michael King (NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt MD), and Dr. Paul Menzel (NOAA/NESDIS, Madison WI). In November/December 1991, the modified Wildfire instrument was flown during the FIRE Cirrus-II experiment onboard a NASA ER-2 in coordination with other aircraft and satellites over the Coffeyville, KS field site as well as the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coast. The MAS spectrometer acquires high spatial resolution imagery in the wavelength range of 0.55 to 14.3 microns. A total of 50 spectral bands are available in this range, and the digitizer can be configured to collect data from any 12 of these bands. The digitizer was configured with four 10-bit channels and seven 8-bit channels. The MAS spectrometer was mated to a scanner subassembly which collected image data with an IFOV of 2.5 mrad, giving a ground resolution of 50 meters from 20000 meters altitude, and a cross track scan width of 85.92 degrees. The data granules were written using the self documenting file storage format provided through the netCDF interface routines included in the HDF libraries.

DOI

---

---

Citation Styles for this Dataset

Resources and Documentation

---

Earthdata Forum

DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE

FIRE II-ASTEX Read Software Package - Direct File Download (.tar)

FIRE I-Cirrus Read Software Package - Direct File Download (.tar)

FIRE I-Extended-Time-Observation Read Software Package - Direct File Download (.tar)

FIRE II-Cirrus Read Software Package - Direct File Download (.tar)

FIRE III Read Software Package - Direct File Download (.tar)

PROFESSIONAL HOME PAGE

Campaign Summary Information for First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE)

PROJECT HOME PAGE

Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) Project Home Page

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

DATA CITATION POLICY

• How to cite ASDC data

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

• ASDC Data and Information for FIRE
• ASDC Data and Information for MAS
• ASDC List of FIRE II - Cirrus Mission Summaries Available
• FIRE Cirrus 2 NASA ER-2 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (MAS) (FIRE_CI2_ER2_MAS) Langley DAAC Data Set Document
• MAS Spectral Response Summary

HOW-TO

• Readme to demonstrate how to read an MAS HDF file containing SDS's and Global Attributes using HDF function calls - Direct File Download (.f)
• Readme to open the PRO MAS_READ_NETCDF_IDL file and initialize the SDS interface

PRODUCTION HISTORY

• Project/Campaign Document: Project/Campaign Document: FIRE Langley DAAC

READ-ME

• Information about FIRE CI2 (FIRE_CI2_ER2_MAS) Readme

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION

• Fortran header file for HDF routines
• Readme to produce a general read program for users to access Data Sets written in NCSA's HDF netCDF format - Direct File Download (.c)

Keywords

---