ORACLES Merge Data Files

ORACLES_Merge_Data are pre-generated aircraft merge data files created utilizing data collected during the ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) campaign. These measurements were collected from August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016, August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017 and September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018. ORACLES provides multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments on the planet. The P-3 Orion aircraft was utilized as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds and was supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing during the 2016 campaign. Data collection for this product is complete.Southern Africa produces almost one-third of the Earth’s biomass burning aerosol particles. The ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) experiment was a five year investigation with three intensive observation periods (August 19, 2016 – October 27, 2016; August 1, 2017 – September 4, 2017; September 21, 2018 – October 27, 2018) and was designed to study key processes that determine the climate impacts of African biomass burning aerosols. ORACLES provided multi-year airborne observations over the complete vertical column of the key parameters that drive aerosol-cloud interactions in the southeast Atlantic, an area with some of the largest inter-model differences in aerosol forcing assessments. These inter-model differences in aerosol and cloud distributions, as well as their combined climatic effects in the SE Atlantic are partly due to the persistence of aerosols above clouds. The varying separation of cloud and aerosol layers sampled during ORACLES allow for a process-oriented understanding of how variations in radiative heating profiles impact cloud properties, which is expected to improve model simulations for other remote regions experience long-range aerosol transport above clouds. ORACLES utilized two NASA aircraft, the P-3 and ER-2. The P-3 was used as a low-flying platform for simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of aerosols and clouds in all three campaigns, supplemented by ER-2 remote sensing in 2016. ER-2 observations will be used to enhance satellite-based remote sensing by resolving variability within a particular scene, and by guiding the development of new and improved remote sensing techniques.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field	Value
Maintainer	Earthdata Forum
Last Updated	August 4, 2025, 15:08 (UTC)
Created	March 20, 2025, 18:34 (UTC)
accessLevel	public
bureauCode	{026:00}
catalog_conformsTo	https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id	4e93f6fe-ef1d-4a56-bd46-ef0cd800e6dc
harvest_source_id	44069cc8-d515-495f-9ea4-b67f76a0a7cb
harvest_source_title	Science Discovery Engine
identifier	10.5067/ASDC_DAAC/ORACLES_Merge_Data_1
landingPage	https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC_DAAC/ORACLES_Merge_Data_1
modified	2025-06-19
programCode	{026:000}
publisher	NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
resource-type	Dataset
source_datajson_identifier	true
source_hash	9cee06baa203a749828cd990e127632f148e13beadb07b556491cb642e3a64ac
source_schema_version	1.1
spatial	["CARTESIAN",[{"Boundary":{"Points":[{"Latitude":-35,"Longitude":-126},{"Latitude":-35,"Longitude":14.94},{"Latitude":41,"Longitude":14.94},{"Latitude":41,"Longitude":-126},{"Latitude":-35,"Longitude":-126}]}}]], Maximum Altitude, 12 km
temporal	2016-07-28/2016-07-28
theme	{"Earth Science"}