Introduction
The FAAM
(Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements)
puts at the scientists' disposal a large atmospheric research aircraft (the
BAE-146-301
aircraft) through a scheme of project selection and combined funding.
It is run jointly by NERC and by the UK
Met Office,
and is one of the NERC Centres for Atmospheric Science
(NCAS).
The BADC is the FAAM designated data centre.
The Dust And Biomass EXperiment, (DABEX), based in Niamey, Niger in early 2006, investigates the radiative effect of dust and biomass aerosols emitted from the Sahara/Sahelian regions. The interaction of dust and biomass over this region has not previously been well-established. The new GERB and SEVERI instruments onboard the geostationary MSG satellite platform provide ideal tools for monitoring the evolution of the dust and biomass plumes. Radiometers onboard the FAAM BAE-146 aircraft in conjunction with surface based sun-photometers will determine the accuracy of the retrieval algorithms in terms of the aerosol optical depth, size distribution, and refractive indices.
The main objectives of DABEX are:
- to perform high quality in-situ and remote sensing measurements of the optical and physical properties of anthropogenic biomass burning aerosols from sub-Sahelian west Africa;
- to perform high quality in-situ and remote sensing measurements of the optical and physical properties of natural mineral dust aerosols from over sub-Sahelian west Africa;
- to determine the interaction between the anthropogenic biomass burning aerosols and natural mineral dust aerosols using a combination of chemical, physical and optical measurements;
- to provide high quality spectral measurements of the solar and terrestrial radiative effects of both biomass burning aerosol and mineral dust aerosol;
- to determine the consistency between in-situ measurements/ satellite and surface-based remote-sensing methods of the effects on the radiation budget of the Earth of the composite biomass and mineral dust aerosols;
- to model the effect of the biomass and mineral dust aerosols on a regional and global scale and estimate the impact on the global radiation balance of the Earth/Atmosphere system.
Data availability and file format
Data collected onboard the FAAM Bae-146 aircraft is stored in the
DABEX archive at the BADC.
These data include both core and non-core data (for a definition of core data, see the document on
FAAM Instruments).
FAAM processed core data are stored in
NetCDF.
Processed non-core data are stored in
NetCDF or NASA Ames. Raw core data are stored in zipped VMS files.
Some software to read, manipulate and convert these formats into each other are
provided by the BADC (software directory in the FAAM archive) or other agencies.
DABEX data are stored in either NetCDF or NASA Ames format.
File names follow the
BADC file name convention
and (for FAAM data) the
FAAM file name convention.
Access Restrictions
Access to and use of the data are ruled by the
DABEX Data Protocol.
- Access to the FAAM Bae-146 non-core data is now public, after having been restricted to the DABEX participants during a period of time of 24 months following the end of the data set collection, in agreement with the DABEX data Protocol. All users are requested to acknowledge the data providers in any publication based on DABEX data.
- Authorised users of the Processed Bae-146 core data now include everyone. If you would like to access these data , please follow the access to FAAM Processed core data instructions online. Access is granted automatically once you have agreed online with the FAAM Conditions of Use.
- Access to raw Bae-146 core data is restricted to the FAAM staff. If you are a FAAM instrument operator and would like to access these data, please follow the access to raw FAAM core data instructions online.
Note that DABEX data users are still requested to contact the principal investigators prior to any use of the data. FAAM scientists may request acknowledgement (or joint authorship) in any publications based, using or quoting their data.
For more details on FAAM data restrictions, please see the FAAM Data Access Rules.
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