Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

Return to search results

FIREX-AQ Remotely Sensed Trace Gas Data

Published by NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Metadata Last Checked: September 15, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-07-17
FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data are remotely sensed trace gas measurements conducted onboard the DC8 aircraft during FIREX-AQ. This product features data collected by the DOAS instrument. Data collection for this product is complete. Completed during summer 2019, FIREX-AQ utilized a combination of instrumented airplanes, satellites, and ground-based instrumentation. Detailed fire plume sampling was carried out by the NASA DC-8 aircraft, which had a comprehensive instrument payload capable of measuring over 200 trace gas species, as well as aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties. The DC-8 aircraft completed 23 science flights, including 15 flights from Boise, Idaho and 8 flights from Salina, Kansas. NASA’s ER-2 completed 11 flights, partially in support of the FIREX-AQ effort. The ER-2 payload was made up of 8 satellite analog instruments and provided critical fire information, including fire temperature, fire plume heights, and vegetation/soil albedo information. NOAA provided the NOAA-CHEM Twin Otter and the NOAA-MET Twin Otter aircraft to measure chemical processing in the lofted plumes of Western wildfires. The NOAA-CHEM Twin Otter focused on nighttime plume chemistry, from which data is archived at the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC). The NOAA-MET Twin Otter collected measurements of air movements at fire boundaries with the goal of understanding the local weather impacts of fires and the movement patterns of fires. NOAA-MET Twin Otter data will be archived at the ASDC in the future. Additionally, a ground-based station in McCall, Idaho and several mobile laboratories provided in-situ measurements of aerosol microphysical and optical properties, aerosol chemical compositions, and trace gas species. The Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign was a NOAA/NASA interagency intensive study of North American fires to gain an understanding on the integrated impact of the fire emissions on the tropospheric chemistry and composition and to assess the satellite’s capability for detecting fires and estimating fire emissions. The overarching goal of FIREX-AQ was to provide measurements of trace gas and aerosol emissions for wildfires and prescribed fires in great detail, relate them to fuel and fire conditions at the point of emission, characterize the conditions relating to plume rise, and follow plumes downwind to understand chemical transformation and air quality impacts.

Find Related Datasets

Click any tag below to search for similar datasets

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
bureauCode 
                                            [
  "026:00"
]
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "James Crawford",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:james.h.crawford@nasa.gov"
}
description FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data are remotely sensed trace gas measurements conducted onboard the DC8 aircraft during FIREX-AQ. This product features data collected by the DOAS instrument. Data collection for this product is complete. Completed during summer 2019, FIREX-AQ utilized a combination of instrumented airplanes, satellites, and ground-based instrumentation. Detailed fire plume sampling was carried out by the NASA DC-8 aircraft, which had a comprehensive instrument payload capable of measuring over 200 trace gas species, as well as aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties. The DC-8 aircraft completed 23 science flights, including 15 flights from Boise, Idaho and 8 flights from Salina, Kansas. NASA’s ER-2 completed 11 flights, partially in support of the FIREX-AQ effort. The ER-2 payload was made up of 8 satellite analog instruments and provided critical fire information, including fire temperature, fire plume heights, and vegetation/soil albedo information. NOAA provided the NOAA-CHEM Twin Otter and the NOAA-MET Twin Otter aircraft to measure chemical processing in the lofted plumes of Western wildfires. The NOAA-CHEM Twin Otter focused on nighttime plume chemistry, from which data is archived at the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC). The NOAA-MET Twin Otter collected measurements of air movements at fire boundaries with the goal of understanding the local weather impacts of fires and the movement patterns of fires. NOAA-MET Twin Otter data will be archived at the ASDC in the future. Additionally, a ground-based station in McCall, Idaho and several mobile laboratories provided in-situ measurements of aerosol microphysical and optical properties, aerosol chemical compositions, and trace gas species. The Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign was a NOAA/NASA interagency intensive study of North American fires to gain an understanding on the integrated impact of the fire emissions on the tropospheric chemistry and composition and to assess the satellite’s capability for detecting fires and estimating fire emissions. The overarching goal of FIREX-AQ was to provide measurements of trace gas and aerosol emissions for wildfires and prescribed fires in great detail, relate them to fuel and fire conditions at the point of emission, characterize the conditions relating to plume rise, and follow plumes downwind to understand chemical transformation and air quality impacts.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "This dataset's landing page",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "AERONET Data for FIREX-AQ",
    "downloadURL": "https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/new_web/DRAGON-FIREX-AQ_2019.html"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Download this dataset",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "ASDC Direct Data Download for FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1",
    "downloadURL": "https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/data/FIREX-AQ/TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "This dataset's landing page",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "DOI data set landing page for FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1",
    "downloadURL": "https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC/FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View documentation related to this dataset",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Data Management Plan for FIREX-AQ",
    "downloadURL": "https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/firex-aq/docs/DMT_FIREXAQ_v02.pptx"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's production history",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "ER-2 instrument suite for the Summer 2019 FIREX-AQ field campaign",
    "downloadURL": "https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/firex-aq/docs/FIREX-AQ_ER-2_Instrument_data_archive_pointer.docx"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "The dataset's project home page",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "ESPO home page for FIREX-AQ",
    "downloadURL": "https://espo.nasa.gov/firex-aq/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Download this dataset through Earthdata Search",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Earthdata Search for FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1 (NASA Application to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data)",
    "downloadURL": "https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C1917876268-LARC_ASDC"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View documentation related to this dataset",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "FIREX-AQ Data on the Sub-Orbital Order Tool (SOOT) Power User Interface (UI)",
    "downloadURL": "https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/soot/power-user/FIREXAQ/2019"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's publications",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "description": "FIREX-AQ Mission Overview/White Paper",
    "downloadURL": "https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/firex-aq/docs/whitepaper.pdf"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "The dataset's project home page",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "FIREX-AQ Project Home Page",
    "downloadURL": "https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/missions/firex-aq/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's data citation policy",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "How to cite ASDC data",
    "downloadURL": "https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/citing-data"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's publications",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NASA Earth Expeditions Article “Fire Weather, Pyro Weather” (July 29, 2019)",
    "downloadURL": "https://blogs.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions/2019/07/29/fire-weather-pyro-weather/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's publications",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NASA Earth Expeditions Article “Plumes Go The Distance” (July 30, 2019)",
    "downloadURL": "https://blogs.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions/2019/07/30/plumes-go-the-distance/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's publications",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NASA Earth Observatory Article “Flying through a Fire Cloud” (August 7, 2019)",
    "downloadURL": "https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145446/flying-through-a-fire-cloud/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's publications",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NASA Earth Observatory Article “Sampling the Castle Fire” (August 13, 2019)",
    "downloadURL": "https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145494/sampling-the-castle-fire/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "The dataset's home page",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) Overview of FIREX-AQ",
    "downloadURL": "https://esrl.noaa.gov/csl/projects/firex-aq/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Use OPeNDAP to access the dataset's data",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "OPeNDAP data access for FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1",
    "downloadURL": "https://opendap.larc.nasa.gov/opendap/FIREX-AQ/TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1/contents.html"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Google Scholar search results",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Search results for publications that cite this dataset by its DOI.",
    "downloadURL": "https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.5067%2FASDC%2FFIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1"
  }
]
identifier C1917876268-LARC_ASDC
issued 2020-04-07
keyword 
                                            [
  "atmosphere",
  "atmospheric-chemistry",
  "earth-science"
]
landingPage https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC/FIREXAQ_TraceGas_AircraftRemoteSensing_DC8_Data_1
language 
                                            [
  "en-US"
]
modified 2025-07-17
programCode 
                                            [
  "026:001"
]
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
spatial <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><gml:Polygon xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml/3.2" srsName="EPSG:9825"><gml:outerBoundaryIs><gml:LinearRing><gml:posList>15.0 -135.0 15.0 -75.0 60.0 -75.0 60.0 -135.0 15.0 -135.0</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing></gml:outerBoundaryIs><gml:innerBoundaryIs></gml:innerBoundaryIs></gml:Polygon>
temporal 2019-07-22T00:00:00Z/2019-09-05T23:59:59.999Z
theme 
                                            [
  "FIREX-AQ",
  "geospatial"
]
title FIREX-AQ Remotely Sensed Trace Gas Data

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov