Summary:

The Met Office C-130 research aircraft was based at Windhoek, Namibia, September 5-16, 2000, where it conducted a series of eight flights as part of the SAFARI 2000 Dry Season Aircraft Campaign. Information reported for each flight includes the aircraft navigation data, basic meteorological measurements, ozone concentration, solar irradiance, several measures of aerosol physical and optical properties, and written flight summaries with maps. All data for a given flight are in one file (available in NetCDF and .csv formats), and all parameters have associated quality flags.

The findings of the Met Office's C-130 flights include the following:

• In-situ measurements of the physical, chemical, and optical properties of the aerosol. Size distributions to be measured using PCASP, FSSP and CVI instrumentation. Optical properties from PSAP and nephelometer data. The data set includes aerosol samples ranging from near source regions to aged plumes several hundreds of kilometres from source, some of which have been cloud processed.
• Data to investigate the direct radiative impact of aerosol over sea, land and low-level cloud. High-altitude radiation measurements taken from SAFIRE, ARIES, SWS, and the broad-band radiometers will be used to infer the direct radiative impact of the aerosol. Low-level orbits and into- and down-sun runs will be used in an attempt to obtain radiative closure. Over land, the ground-based sun photometers may also prove useful for constraining the data.
• In-situ measurements of aerosol properties in conjunction with ground-based sites to validate the ground-based retrievals of, for example, aerosol size distributions.
• In-situ measurements of aerosol properties in conjunction with TERRA overpasses to validate the satellite-based retrievals of aerosol properties.
• In-situ measurements of stratus/stratocumulus cloud of Namibia/Angola in conjunction with TERRA overpasses to validate satellite-based retrievals of cloud properties.

Publications describing these results and others are included in the reference section. Photographs taken during flights can be viewed in the S2K Photo Gallery.

Data Citation:

Cite this data set as follows:

Haywood, J., and S. Osborne. 2004. SAFARI 2000 C-130 Aerosol and Meteorological Data, Dry Season 2000. Data set. Available on-line [http://daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A. doi:10.3334/ORNLDAAC/720.

References:

Crutzen, P. J. and M. O. Andreae. 1990. Biomass burning in the tropics: Impact on atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles. Science, 250:1669-1678.

Formenti, P., W. Elbert, W. Maenhaut, J. Haywood, S. Osborne, and M. O. Andreae. 2003. Inorganic and carbonaceous aerosols during the Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) experiment: Chemical characteristics, physical properties, and emission data for smoke from African biomass burning. J. Geophys. Res., 108(D13), 8488, doi:10.1029/2002JD002408.

Garstang, M., et al.. 1998. The contribution of aerosol and water-borne nutrients to the functioning of the Okavango Delta ecosystem. South African Journal of Science, 94:203-208.

Harris, G. W., F. G. Wienhold, and T. Zenker. 1996. Airborne observations of strong biogenic NOx emissions from the Namibian Savanna at the end of the dry season. J. Geophys. Res., 101:23,707-23,711.

Haywood, J., P. Francis, O. Dubovik, M. Glew, and B. Holben. 2003. Comparison of aerosol size distributions, radiative properties, and optical depths determined by aircraft observations and Sun photometers during SAFARI 2000. J. Geophys. Res.,108(D13), 8471, doi:10.1029/2002JD002250.

Haywood, J. M., S. R. Osborne, P. N. Francis, A. Keil, P. Formenti, M. O. Andreae, and P. H. Kaye. 2003. The mean physical and optical properties of regional haze dominated by biomass burning aerosol measured from the C-130 aircraft during SAFARI 2000. J. Geophys. Res., 108(D13), 8473, doi:10.1029/2002JD002226.

Held, G., et al. 1996. Air pollution and its impact on the South African Highveld. Environmental Scientific Association, Cleveland, S.A. and the National Association for Clean Air, 35-46.

Keil, A., and J. M. Haywood. 2003. Solar radiative forcing by biomass burning aerosol particles during SAFARI 2000: A case study based on measured aerosol and cloud properties. J. Geophys. Res., 108(D13), 8467, doi:10.1029/2002JD002315.

Myhre, G., T. K. Berntsen, J. M. Haywood, J. K. Sundet, B. N. Holben, M. Johnsrud, and F. Stordal. 2003. Modeling the solar radiative impact of aerosols from biomass burning during the Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI-2000) experiment. J. Geophys. Res., 108(D13), 8501, doi:10.1029/2002JD002313.

Data Format:

The C-130 data (~ 65 parameters) are available from the ORNL DAAC in NetCDF format data files and comma-delimited spreadsheet formatted files. For each C-130 flight, there is a flight summary report (PDF format) and a flight map (GIF format).

In the .csv format files, each file contains a header line for column names and a second line for units. Quality flags are provided with every parameter in the following column. A flag has a value between 0 and 3, with the following meanings:

• 0 - Data are good

• 1 - Warning, data may be of reduced quality

• 2 - Error, data are present but are likely to be wrong

• 3 - Invalid, no valid data are present

Invalid and missing data are denoted as "0" (zero) with a quality flag of "3".

A complete listing of reported parameters with descriptions, additional information about the data formats, flight reports, flight maps, and maneuvers are found in the companion file: http://daac.ornl.gov/daacdata/safari2k/atmospheric/uk_met_c-130/comp/uk_c130_readme.pdf .

Document Information:

2004/6/23

Document Review Date:

2004/6/23

Document Curator:

webmaster@www.daac.ornl.gov

Document URL:

http://daac.ornl.gov