Skip to main content
GIS image of TRACER-AQ flight tracks colored, blue, green, purple, and red over satellite imagery of the area.
Image of HCHO data plotted for the TRACER-AQ campaign. The data is dark blue-to-yellow in color with a grey background
Spatial distribution of net ozone production calculated using the P-3B flight track during DISCOVER-AQ 2013 from the TRACER-AQ Science Plan document

TRACER-AQ

Tracking Aerosol Convection ExpeRiment – Air Quality

Data Centers

ASDC

The TRacking Aerosol Convection ExpeRiment – Air Quality (TRACER-AQ) campaign was a field study co-sponsored by NASA and TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), with partners from DOE (Department of Energy) TRacking Aerosol Convection ExpeRiment (TRACER), and several academic institutions. This synergistic effort aimed to gain an updated understanding in photochemistry and meteorological impact on ozone formation in the Houston region, particularly around the Houston Ship Channel, Galveston Bay, and the Gulf of America; and provide observations for evaluating air quality models and satellite observations.

The primary TRACER-AQ field observations period lasted from mid-August to late September 2021, coinciding with the peak ozone season in East Texas, with a second deployment in summer 2022 with a subset of ground-based assets. The observing system included airborne remote sensing, mobile (boat/vehicle) laboratories, and stationary ground-based assets.

The airborne component was based on the NASA Gulfstream V aircraft instrumented with GCAS (GEOCAPE Airborne Simulator) for making measurements of column NO2 and HCHO as well as a lidar system, HSRL-2 (High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2), to measure O3 and aerosol vertical profiles over the course of 12 flight days. Ground-based assets included ground-based ozone lidars from the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet), ceilometers, Pandora spectrometers, AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) remote sensors, ozonesondes, and stationary and mobile laboratories of in situ air quality and meteorological observations. 

This coordinated observing system provided updated or unseen perspectives in spatial and temporal distribution of the key photochemical species and atmospheric structure information, particularly with a focus on the temporal evolution of observations throughout the daytime in preparation for upcoming geostationary satellite air quality observations.

  • Gain an updated understanding in photochemistry and meteorological impact on ozone formation in the Houston, TX region.
  • Provide observations for evaluating air quality models and satellite observations.

TRACER-AQ scientists collected data using a variety of platforms, including airborne, mobile, and ground-based. These measurements collected with the instruments on the platforms were used in conjunction with various satellite data. The following table goes briefly into the instruments and payloads used in TRACER-AQ:

PlatformInstruments
Gulfstream-V Aircraft (G-V)High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2 (HSRL-2)
GEOstationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) Airborne Simulator (GCAS)
Ground StationsPandora Spectrometer
VehicleCeilometer
NASA Goddard Tropospheric Ozone Lidar (TROPOZ)
Tunable Optical Profiler for Aerosol and oZone (TOPAZ)
Langley Mobile Ozone Lidar (LMOL)
BalloonsOzonesondes
Radiosondes