Age of smoke sampled by aircraft during  FIREX-AQ: methods and critical evaluation

Holmes, Christopher D.; Schwarz, Joshua P.; Fite, Charles H.; Agastra, Anxhelo; Nowell, Holly K.; Ball, Katherine; Bui, T. Paul; Dean-Day, Jonathan; Decker, Zachary C. J.; DiGangi, Joshua P.; Diskin, Glenn S.; Gargulinski, Emily M.; Halliday, Hannah; Kondragunta, Shobha; Nowak, John B.; Peterson, David A.; Robinson, Michael A.; Soja, Amber J.; Washenfelder, Rebecca A.; Xu, Chuanyu; Yokelson, Robert J.

doi:10.5194/essd-18-8107-2026

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-8107-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-8107-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

Data description article

|

05 Nov 2026

Data description article |

| 05 Nov 2026

Age of smoke sampled by aircraft during FIREX-AQ: methods and critical evaluation

Christopher D. Holmes, Joshua P. Schwarz, Charles H. Fite, Anxhelo Agastra, Holly K. Nowell, Katherine Ball, T. Paul Bui, Jonathan Dean-Day, Zachary C. J. Decker, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Emily M. Gargulinski, Hannah Halliday, Shobha Kondragunta, John B. Nowak, David A. Peterson, Michael A. Robinson, Amber J. Soja, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Chuanyu Xu, and Robert J. Yokelson

Data sets

Smoke age (mean-wind and trajectory-based methods) and meteorological measurements for the DC-8 J. R. Bennett et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC/FIREXAQ_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_DC8_Data_1

Smoke age (trajectory-based method) for the NOAA Twin Otter Christopher D. Holmes https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC/SUBORBITAL/FIREXAQ_Analysis_N48_Data_1

GOES ABI true color imagery (png, mp4, and netCDF4 formats) Christopher D. Holmes 0.5067/ASDC/FIREXAQ_Satellite_Data_2

Tabular data summary of NASA DC-8 smoke transects Emily Gargulinski et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC/FIREXAQ_Analysis_Data_1

Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality FIREX-AQ Science Team https://doi.org/10.5067/SUBORBITAL/FIREXAQ2019/DATA001

FIREX-AQ Merge Data Files [Dataset] J. Crawford et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASDC/FIREXAQ_MERGE_DATA_2

Short summary

Smoke age is an important factor in the chemical and physical evolution of smoke. Two methods for determining the age of smoke are applied to the NASA-NOAA FIREX-AQ field campaign: one based on wind speed and distance, and another using an ensemble of modeled air parcel trajectories. Both methods are evaluated, with the trajectory method, which includes plume rise and uncertainty estimates, proving more accurate.