Articles | Volume 18, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3973-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3973-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 Aug 2025
Research article |
| 26 Aug 2025
| 26 Aug 2025
Description and validation of a carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide instrument for high-altitude airborne science (COMA)
Emma L. Yates
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA
Levi M. Golston
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
NASA Postdoctoral Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
James R. Podolske
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
Laura T. Iraci
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
Kristen E. Okorn
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA
NASA Postdoctoral Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
Caroline Dang
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA
NASA Postdoctoral Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
Roy R. Johnson
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
James Eilers
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
Richard Kolyer
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, USA
Ian Astley
ABB Group, San Jose, CA, USA
now at: Nikara Labs Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA
J. Brian Leen
ABB Group, San Jose, CA, USA
now at: Nikara Labs Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA
Related authors
Yu Yan Cui, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Matthew S. Johnson, Kai-Lan Chang, Emma Yates, Owen R. Cooper, and Laura T. Iraci
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-571, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-571, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric observations show that free tropospheric ozone has increased across the Northern Hemisphere over the past three decades. The sources driving this increase remain unclear. In this study, we developed a source-receptor relationship database combining harmonized multiplatform ozone data and advanced atmospheric transport modeling. This database can identify emission regions responsible for ozone increases and can also be used to analyze other co-observed atmospheric constituents.
Emma L. Yates, Laura T. Iraci, Susan S. Kulawik, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Josette E. Marrero, Caroline L. Parworth, Jason M. St. Clair, Thomas F. Hanisco, Thao Paul V. Bui, Cecilia S. Chang, and Jonathan M. Dean-Day
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2375–2389, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2375-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2375-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX) flew scientific flights between 2011 and 2018 providing measurements of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, formaldehyde, water vapor and meteorological parameters over California and Nevada, USA. AJAX was a multi-year, multi-objective, multi-instrument program with a variety of sampling strategies resulting in an extensive dataset of interest to a wide variety of users. AJAX measurements have been published at https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/AJAX.
Yu Yan Cui, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Matthew S. Johnson, Kai-Lan Chang, Emma Yates, Owen R. Cooper, and Laura T. Iraci
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-571, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-571, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric observations show that free tropospheric ozone has increased across the Northern Hemisphere over the past three decades. The sources driving this increase remain unclear. In this study, we developed a source-receptor relationship database combining harmonized multiplatform ozone data and advanced atmospheric transport modeling. This database can identify emission regions responsible for ozone increases and can also be used to analyze other co-observed atmospheric constituents.
Haochi Che, Lu Zhang, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Caroline Dang, Paquita Zuidema, and Arthur J. Sedlacek III
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3304, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3304, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated how biomass burning (BB) affects cloud formation in the southeast Atlantic. We found that aerosol hygroscopicity, which influences cloud droplet formation, varied monthly and differed significantly between 2016 and 2017, due to changes in sulfate aerosols. These changes were driven by BB burning conditions, which were likely influenced by meteorological factors. This study highlights the important role of BB in shaping aerosol properties and clouds in the region.
Kristen Okorn and Laura T. Iraci
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6425–6457, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6425-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6425-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We reviewed 60 sensor networks and 17 related efforts (sensor review papers and data accessibility projects) to better understand the landscape of stationary low-cost gas-phase sensor networks deployed in outdoor environments worldwide. Gaps in monitoring efforts include the availability of gas-phase measurements compared to particulate matter (PM) and geographic coverage gaps (the Global South, rural areas). We conclude with a summary of cross-network unification and quality control efforts.
Kristina Pistone, Eric M. Wilcox, Paquita Zuidema, Marco Giordano, James Podolske, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Steven G. Howell, and Steffen Freitag
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7983–8005, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7983-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7983-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The springtime southeast Atlantic atmosphere contains lots of smoke from continental fires. This smoke travels with water vapor; more smoke means more humidity. We use aircraft observations and models to describe how the values change through the season and over the region. We sort the atmosphere into different types by vertical structure and amount of smoke and humidity. Since our work shows how frequently these components coincide, it helps to better quantify heating effects over this region.
Calvin Howes, Pablo E. Saide, Hugh Coe, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jim M. Haywood, Steven G. Howell, Siddhant Gupta, Janek Uin, Mary Kacarab, Chongai Kuang, L. Ruby Leung, Athanasios Nenes, Greg M. McFarquhar, James Podolske, Jens Redemann, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jenny P. S. Wong, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Yang Zhang, Jianhao Zhang, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13911–13940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand smoke properties and its interactions with clouds, we compare the WRF-CAM5 model with observations from ORACLES, CLARIFY, and LASIC field campaigns in the southeastern Atlantic in August 2017. The model transports and mixes smoke well but does not fully capture some important processes. These include smoke chemical and physical aging over 4–12 days, smoke removal by rain, sulfate particle formation, aerosol activation into cloud droplets, and boundary layer turbulence.
Emma L. Yates, Laura T. Iraci, Susan S. Kulawik, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Josette E. Marrero, Caroline L. Parworth, Jason M. St. Clair, Thomas F. Hanisco, Thao Paul V. Bui, Cecilia S. Chang, and Jonathan M. Dean-Day
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2375–2389, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2375-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2375-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX) flew scientific flights between 2011 and 2018 providing measurements of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, formaldehyde, water vapor and meteorological parameters over California and Nevada, USA. AJAX was a multi-year, multi-objective, multi-instrument program with a variety of sampling strategies resulting in an extensive dataset of interest to a wide variety of users. AJAX measurements have been published at https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/AJAX.
Harrison A. Parker, Joshua L. Laughner, Geoffrey C. Toon, Debra Wunch, Coleen M. Roehl, Laura T. Iraci, James R. Podolske, Kathryn McKain, Bianca C. Baier, and Paul O. Wennberg
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2601–2625, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2601-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2601-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We describe a retrieval algorithm for determining limited information about the vertical distribution of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from total column observations from ground-based observations. Our retrieved partial column values compare well with integrated in situ data. The average error for our retrieval is 1.51 ppb (~ 2 %) for CO and 5.09 ppm (~ 1.25 %) for CO2. We anticipate that this approach will find broad application for use in carbon cycle science.
Paul A. Barrett, Steven J. Abel, Hugh Coe, Ian Crawford, Amie Dobracki, James Haywood, Steve Howell, Anthony Jones, Justin Langridge, Greg M. McFarquhar, Graeme J. Nott, Hannah Price, Jens Redemann, Yohei Shinozuka, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Paquita Zuidema, Stéphane Bauguitte, Ryan Bennett, Keith Bower, Hong Chen, Sabrina Cochrane, Michael Cotterell, Nicholas Davies, David Delene, Connor Flynn, Andrew Freedman, Steffen Freitag, Siddhant Gupta, David Noone, Timothy B. Onasch, James Podolske, Michael R. Poellot, Sebastian Schmidt, Stephen Springston, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jamie Trembath, Alan Vance, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jianhao Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6329–6371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand weather and climate, it is vital to go into the field and collect observations. Often measurements take place in isolation, but here we compared data from two aircraft and one ground-based site. This was done in order to understand how well measurements made on one platform compared to those made on another. Whilst this is easy to do in a controlled laboratory setting, it is more challenging in the real world, and so these comparisons are as valuable as they are rare.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Roy R. Johnson, Stephen E. Dunagan, Robert Dahlgren, Jhoon Kim, Myungje Choi, Arlindo da Silva, Patricia Castellanos, Qian Tan, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth Lee Thornhill, and Meloë Kacenelenbogen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11275–11304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne observations of atmospheric particles and pollution over Korea during a field campaign in May–June 2016 showed that the smallest atmospheric particles are present in the lowest 2 km of the atmosphere. The aerosol size is more spatially variable than optical thickness. We show this with remote sensing (4STAR), in situ (LARGE) observations, satellite measurements (GOCI), and modeled properties (MERRA-2), and it is contrary to the current understanding.
Matthias Schneider, Benjamin Ertl, Qiansi Tu, Christopher J. Diekmann, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Amelie N. Röhling, Frank Hase, Darko Dubravica, Omaira E. García, Eliezer Sepúlveda, Tobias Borsdorff, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, André Butz, Huilin Chen, Rigel Kivi, Thomas Laemmel, Michel Ramonet, Cyril Crevoisier, Jérome Pernin, Martin Steinbacher, Frank Meinhardt, Kimberly Strong, Debra Wunch, Thorsten Warneke, Coleen Roehl, Paul O. Wennberg, Isamu Morino, Laura T. Iraci, Kei Shiomi, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T. Griffith, Voltaire A. Velazco, and David F. Pollard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4339–4371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a computationally very efficient method for the synergetic use of level 2 remote-sensing data products. We apply the method to IASI vertical profile and TROPOMI total column space-borne methane observations and thus gain sensitivity for the tropospheric methane partial columns, which is not achievable by the individual use of TROPOMI and IASI. These synergetic effects are evaluated theoretically and empirically by inter-comparisons to independent references of TCCON, AirCore, and GAW.
Glenn M. Wolfe, Thomas F. Hanisco, Heather L. Arkinson, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Tomas Mikoviny, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilana Pollack, Jeff Peischl, Paul O. Wennberg, John D. Crounse, Jason M. St. Clair, Alex Teng, L. Gregory Huey, Xiaoxi Liu, Alan Fried, Petter Weibring, Dirk Richter, James Walega, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, T. Paul Bui, Glenn Diskin, James R. Podolske, Glen Sachse, and Ronald C. Cohen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4253–4275, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4253-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4253-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke plumes are chemically complex. This work combines airborne observations of smoke plume composition with a photochemical model to probe the production of ozone and the fate of reactive gases in the outflow of a large wildfire. Model–measurement comparisons illustrate how uncertain emissions and chemical processes propagate into simulated chemical evolution. Results provide insight into how this system responds to perturbations, which can help guide future observation and modeling efforts.
Thomas E. Taylor, Christopher W. O'Dell, David Crisp, Akhiko Kuze, Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Paul O. Wennberg, Abhishek Chatterjee, Michael Gunson, Annmarie Eldering, Brendan Fisher, Matthäus Kiel, Robert R. Nelson, Aronne Merrelli, Greg Osterman, Frédéric Chevallier, Paul I. Palmer, Liang Feng, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Manvendra K. Dubey, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Frank Hase, Laura T. Iraci, Rigel Kivi, Cheng Liu, Martine De Mazière, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Young-Suk Oh, Hirofumi Ohyama, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, Matthias Schneider, Coleen M. Roehl, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Thorsten Warneke, and Debra Wunch
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 325–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-325-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-325-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We provide an analysis of an 11-year record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations derived using an optimal estimation retrieval algorithm on measurements made by the GOSAT satellite. The new product (version 9) shows improvement over the previous version (v7.3) as evaluated against independent estimates of CO2 from ground-based sensors and atmospheric inversion systems. We also compare the new GOSAT CO2 values to collocated estimates from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.
Sarah J. Doherty, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Yohei Shinozuka, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Hamish Gordon, Marc Mallet, Kerry Meyer, David Painemal, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Calvin Howes, Pierre Nabat, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Kristina Pistone, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Between July and October, biomass burning smoke is advected over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, leading to climate forcing. Model calculations of forcing by this plume vary significantly in both magnitude and sign. This paper compares aerosol and cloud properties observed during three NASA ORACLES field campaigns to the same in four models. It quantifies modeled biases in properties key to aerosol direct radiative forcing and evaluates how these biases propagate to biases in forcing.
Mahesh Kumar Sha, Bavo Langerock, Jean-François L. Blavier, Thomas Blumenstock, Tobias Borsdorff, Matthias Buschmann, Angelika Dehn, Martine De Mazière, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Michel Grutter, James W. Hannigan, Frank Hase, Pauli Heikkinen, Christian Hermans, Laura T. Iraci, Pascal Jeseck, Nicholas Jones, Rigel Kivi, Nicolas Kumps, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, Emmanuel Mahieu, Maria V. Makarova, Johan Mellqvist, Jean-Marc Metzger, Isamu Morino, Tomoo Nagahama, Justus Notholt, Hirofumi Ohyama, Ivan Ortega, Mathias Palm, Christof Petri, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, John Robinson, Sébastien Roche, Coleen M. Roehl, Amelie N. Röhling, Constantina Rousogenous, Matthias Schneider, Kei Shiomi, Dan Smale, Wolfgang Stremme, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Osamu Uchino, Voltaire A. Velazco, Corinne Vigouroux, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Pucai Wang, Thorsten Warneke, Tyler Wizenberg, Debra Wunch, Shoma Yamanouchi, Yang Yang, and Minqiang Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6249–6304, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents, for the first time, Sentinel-5 Precursor methane and carbon monoxide validation results covering a period from November 2017 to September 2020. For this study, we used global TCCON and NDACC-IRWG network data covering a wide range of atmospheric and surface conditions across different terrains. We also show the influence of a priori alignment, smoothing uncertainties and the sensitivity of the validation results towards the application of advanced co-location criteria.
Konstantin Baibakov, Samuel LeBlanc, Keyvan Ranjbar, Norman T. O'Neill, Mengistu Wolde, Jens Redemann, Kristina Pistone, Shao-Meng Li, John Liggio, Katherine Hayden, Tak W. Chan, Michael J. Wheeler, Leonid Nichman, Connor Flynn, and Roy Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10671–10687, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10671-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10671-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We find that the airborne measurements of the vertical extinction due to aerosols (aerosol optical depth, AOD) obtained in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) can significantly exceed ground-based values. This can have an effect on estimating the AOSR radiative impact and is relevant to satellite validation based on ground-based measurements. We also show that the AOD can marginally increase as the plumes are being transported away from the source and the new particles are being formed.
Kristina Pistone, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Michael Diamond, Arlindo M. da Silva, Gonzalo Ferrada, Pablo E. Saide, Rei Ueyama, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, James Podolske, David Noone, Ryan Bennett, Eric Stith, Gregory Carmichael, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Samuel LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Yohei Shinozuka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9643–9668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Using aircraft-based measurements off the Atlantic coast of Africa, we found the springtime smoke plume was strongly correlated with the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere (more smoke indicated more humidity). We see the same general feature in satellite-assimilated and free-running models. Our analysis suggests this relationship is not caused by the burning but originates due to coincident continental meteorology plus fires. This air is transported over the ocean without further mixing.
Matthieu Dogniaux, Cyril Crevoisier, Raymond Armante, Virginie Capelle, Thibault Delahaye, Vincent Cassé, Martine De Mazière, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. Garcia, David W. T. Griffith, Frank Hase, Laura T. Iraci, Rigel Kivi, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, David F. Pollard, Coleen M. Roehl, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4689–4706, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4689-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4689-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present the Adaptable 4A Inversion (5AI), an implementation of the optimal estimation (OE) algorithm, relying on the Automatized Atmospheric Absorption Atlas (4A/OP) radiative transfer model, that enables the retrieval of greenhouse gas atmospheric weighted columns from infrared measurements. It is tested on a sample of Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 observations, and its results satisfactorily compare to several reference products, thus showing the reliability of 5AI OE implementation.
Stefan Noël, Maximilian Reuter, Michael Buchwitz, Jakob Borchardt, Michael Hilker, Heinrich Bovensmann, John P. Burrows, Antonio Di Noia, Hiroshi Suto, Yukio Yoshida, Matthias Buschmann, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dietrich G. Feist, David W. T. Griffith, Frank Hase, Rigel Kivi, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Hirofumi Ohyama, Christof Petri, James R. Podolske, David F. Pollard, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3837–3869, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3837-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3837-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first GOSAT and GOSAT-2 XCO2 data derived with the FOCAL retrieval algorithm. Comparisons of the GOSAT-FOCAL product with other data reveal long-term agreement within about 1 ppm over 1 decade, differences in seasonal variations of about 0.5 ppm, and a mean regional bias to ground-based TCCON data of 0.56 ppm with a mean scatter of 1.89 ppm. GOSAT-2-FOCAL data are preliminary only, but first comparisons show that they compare well with the GOSAT-FOCAL results and TCCON.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, David J. Delene, Michael R. Poellot, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Jens Redemann, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Kristina Pistone
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4615–4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Observations from the 2016 NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) field campaign examine how biomass burning aerosols from southern Africa affect marine stratocumulus cloud decks over the Southeast Atlantic. Instances of contact and separation between aerosols and clouds are examined to quantify the impact of aerosol mixing into cloud top on cloud drop numbers and sizes. This information is needed for improving Earth system models and satellite retrievals.
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Yohei Shinozuka, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Sharon P. Burton, Richard Ferrare, Sarah J. Doherty, Hamish Gordon, Karla Longo, Marc Mallet, Yan Feng, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Steven G. Howell, Samuel LeBlanc, Connor Flynn, Michal Segal-Rosenhaimer, Kristina Pistone, James R. Podolske, Eric J. Stith, Joseph Ryan Bennett, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Ravi Govindaraju, Ruby Leung, Yang Zhang, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11491–11526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In the southeast Atlantic, well-defined smoke plumes from Africa advect over marine boundary layer cloud decks; both are most extensive around September, when most of the smoke resides in the free troposphere. A framework is put forth for evaluating the performance of a range of global and regional atmospheric composition models against observations made during the NASA ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) airborne mission in September 2016.
Cited articles
Allan, D. W.: Should the Classical Variance be Used as a Basic Measure in Standards Metrology?, IEEE T. Instrum. Meas., IM-36, 646–654, https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.1987.6312761, 1987.
Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC): ACCLIP data archive, Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical and CLimate Impact Project, EarthData [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/SUBORBITAL/ACCLIP/DATA001, 2022.
Diskin, G. S., Podolske, J. R., Sachse, G. W., and Slate, T. A.: Open-path airborne tunable diode laser hygrometer, International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, Seattle, WA, USA,Proc. SPIE, 4817, 196–204, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.453736, 2002.
Filges, A., Gerbig, C., Chen, H., Franke, H., Klaus, C., and Jordan, A.: The IAGOS-core greenhouse gas package: a measurement system for continuous airborne observations of CO2, CH4, H2O and CO, Tellus B, 67, 27989–28008, https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v67.27989, 2015.
Gonzalez, Y., Commane, R., Manninen, E., Daube, B. C., Schiferl, L. D., McManus, J. B., McKain, K., Hintsa, E. J., Elkins, J. W., Montzka, S. A., Sweeney, C., Moore, F., Jimenez, J. L., Campuzano Jost, P., Ryerson, T. B., Bourgeois, I., Peischl, J., Thompson, C. R., Ray, E., Wennberg, P. O., Crounse, J., Kim, M., Allen, H. M., Newman, P. A., Stephens, B. B., Apel, E. C., Hornbrook, R. S., Nault, B. A., Morgan, E., and Wofsy, S. C.: Impact of stratospheric air and surface emissions on tropospheric nitrous oxide during ATom, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11113–11132, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11113-2021, 2021.
Gurganus, C., Rollins, A. W., Waxman, E., Pan, L. L., Smith, W. P., Ueyama, R., Feng, W., Chipperfield, M. P., Atlas, E. L., Schwarz, J. P., Lee, S., and Thornberry, T. D.: Highlighting the impact of anthropogenic OCS emissions on the stratospheric budget with in-situ observations, ESS Open Archive, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.172801406.62154439/v1, 2024.
Gvakharia, A., Kort, E. A., Smith, M. L., and Conley, S.: Testing and evaluation of a new airborne system for continuous N2O, CO2, CO, and H2O measurements: the Frequent Calibration High-performance Airborne Observation System (FCHAOS), Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6059–6074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6059-2018, 2018.
Hall, B. D., Dutton, G. S., and Elkins, J. W.: The NOAA nitrous oxide standard scale for atmospheric observations, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D09305, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007954, 2007.
Hintsa, E., Boering, K. A.,Weinstock, E. M., Anderson, J. G., Gary, B. L., Pfister, L., Daube, B. C., Wofsy, S. C., Loewenstein, M., Podolske, J. R., Margitan, J. J., and Bu, T. T.: Troposphere-to stratosphere transport in the lowermost stratosphere from measurements of H2O, CO, N2O and O3, Geosphys. Res. Lett., 25, 14, 2655–2658, https://doi.org/10.1029/98GL01797, 1998.
Honomichl, S. B. and Pan, L. L.: Transport from the Asian Summer Monsoon Anticyclone Over the Western Pacific, J. Geophys. Res., 125, e2019JD032094, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD032094, 2020.
Kostinek, J., Roiger, A., Davis, K. J., Sweeney, C., DiGangi, J. P., Choi, Y., Baier, B., Hase, F., Groß, J., Eckl, M., Klausner, T., and Butz, A.: Adaptation and performance assessment of a quantum and interband cascade laser spectrometer for simultaneous airborne in situ observation of CH4, C2H6, CO2, CO and N2O, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1767–1783, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1767-2019, 2019.
Kloss, C., Tan, V., Leen, J. B., Madsen, G. L., Gardner, A., Du, X., Kulessa, T., Schillings, J., Schneider, H., Schrade, S., Qiu, C., and von Hobe, M.: Airborne Mid-Infrared Cavity enhanced Absorption spectrometer (AMICA), Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5271–5297, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5271-2021, 2021.
Novelli, P. C., Elkins, E. W., and Steele, L. P.: The development and evaluation of a gravimetric reference scale for measurements of atmospheric carbon monoxide, J. Geophys, Res., 96, 13109–13121, https://doi.org/10.1029/91JD01108, 1991.
Okorn, K.: KristenOkorn/COMA: COMA 2025 release (v1.0.0), Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16921588, 2025.
Pan, L. L., Honomichl, S. B., Kinnison, D. E., Abalos, M., Randel, W. J., Bergman, J. W., and Bian, J.: Transport of chemical tracers from the boundary layer to stratosphere associated with the dynamics of the Asian summer monsoon, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 121, 159–174, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025616, 2016.
Pan, L. L., Kinnison, D., Liang, Q., Chin, M., Santee, M. L., Flemming, J., Smith, W. P., Honomichl, S. B., Bresch, J. F., Lait, L. R., Zhu, Y., Tilmes, S., Colarco, P. R., Warner, J., Vuvan, A., Clerbaux, C., Atlas, E. L., Newman, P. A., Thornberry, T., Randel, W. J., and Toon, O. B.: A Multimodel Investigation of Asian Summer Monsoon UTLS Transport Over the Western Pacific, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 127, e2022JD037511, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD037511, 2022.
Pan, L. L., Atlas, E. L., Newman, P. A., Thornberry, T., Jucks, K. W., Toon, L. B., Randel, W. J., Liang, Q., Kinnison, D. E., Honomichl, S. B., Hornbrook, R. S., Smith, W. P., Ueyama, R., Bresch, J. F., Ziemba, L., Fujiwara, M., Apel, E. C., Barucci, M., Bianchini, G., Brown, M., Bui, T. P., Campos, T., Chin, M., D'Amato, F., Dean-Day, J., Diskin, G., Franchin, A., Gurganus, C., Iraci, L. T., Koo, J.-H., Kim, J., Lait, L. R., Lesko, K., Podolsky, J. R., Rollins, A., Sakai, T., Shiraishi, K., Treadway, V., Viciani, S., and Waxman, E.: The Asian Summer Monsoon Chemical and Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP): An Overview, ESS Open Archive, https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.175337658.88281458/v1, 2025.
Park, M., Randel, W. J., Emmons, L. K., and Livesey, N. J.: Transport pathways of carbon monoxide in the Asian summer monsoon diagnosed from Model of Ozone and Related Tracers (MOZART), J. Geophys. Res., 114, D08303, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010621, 2009.
Pitt, J. R., Le Breton, M., Allen, G., Percival, C. J., Gallagher, M. W., Bauguitte, S. J.-B., O'Shea, S. J., Muller, J. B. A., Zahniser, M. S., Pyle, J., and Palmer, P. I.: The development and evaluation of airborne in situ N2O and CH4 sampling using a quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer (QCLAS), Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 63–77, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-63-2016, 2016.
Podolske, J.: Current list for the WB57_AIRCRAFT Data, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) [data set], https://www-air.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ArcView/acclip.2022, last access: 8 August 2025.
Ravishankara, A. R., Daniel, J. S., and Portmann R. W.: Nitrous Oxide (N2O): The Dominant Ozone-Depleting Substance Emitted in the 21st Century, Science, 326, 5929, 123–125, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1176985, 2009.
Redemann, J., Wood, R., Zuidema, P., Doherty, S. J., Luna, B., LeBlanc, S. E., Diamond, M. S., Shinozuka, Y., Chang, I. Y., Ueyama, R., Pfister, L., Ryoo, J.-M., Dobracki, A. N., da Silva, A. M., Longo, K. M., Kacenelenbogen, M. S., Flynn, C. J., Pistone, K., Knox, N. M., Piketh, S. J., Haywood, J. M., Formenti, P., Mallet, M., Stier, P., Ackerman, A. S., Bauer, S. E., Fridlind, A. M., Carmichael, G. R., Saide, P. E., Ferrada, G. A., Howell, S. G., Freitag, S., Cairns, B., Holben, B. N., Knobelspiesse, K. D., Tanelli, S., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Dzambo, A. M., Sy, O. O., McFarquhar, G. M., Poellot, M. R., Gupta, S., O'Brien, J. R., Nenes, A., Kacarab, M., Wong, J. P. S., Small-Griswold, J. D., Thornhill, K. L., Noone, D., Podolske, J. R., Schmidt, K. S., Pilewskie, P., Chen, H., Cochrane, S. P., Sedlacek, A. J., Lang, T. J., Stith, E., Segal-Rozenhaimer, M., Ferrare, R. A., Burton, S. P., Hostetler, C. A., Diner, D. J., Seidel, F. C., Platnick, S. E., Myers, J. S., Meyer, K. G., Spangenberg, D. A., Maring, H., and Gao, L.: An overview of the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) project: aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions in the southeast Atlantic basin, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021.
St. Clair, J. M., Swanson, A. K., Bailey, S. A., and Hanisco, T. F.: CAFE: a new, improved nonresonant laser-induced fluorescence instrument for airborne in situ measurement of formaldehyde, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4581–4590, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4581-2019, 2019.
Tian, H., Xu, R., Canadell, J. G., et al.: A comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks, Nature, 586, 248–256, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2780-0, 2020.
Viciani, S., Montori, A., Chiarugi, A., and D'Amato, F.: A Portable Quantum Cascade Laser Spectrometer for Atmospheric Measurements of Carbon Monoxide, Sensors, 18, 2380–2398, https://doi.org/10.3390/s18072380, 2018.
Zellweger, C., Steinbrecher, R., Laurent, O., Lee, H., Kim, S., Emmenegger, L., Steinbacher, M., and Buchmann, B.: Recent advances in measurement techniques for atmospheric carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide observations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5863–5878, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5863-2019, 2019.
Short summary
In this work, we describe the development of the Carbon monOxide Measurement from Ames (COMA) instrument for measurement of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) aboard NASA's WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft. We detail the modifications and testing conducted as well as details of COMA's performance during research flights for NASA’s Asian summer monsoon Chemical & CLImate Project (ACCLIP) 2022 campaign.
In this work, we describe the development of the Carbon monOxide Measurement from Ames (COMA)...
