FAAM Airborne Laboratory data use survey

Posted on July 21, 2023  (Last modified on October 19, 2023) • 2 min read • 423 words

The FAAM Airborne Laboratory collects atmospheric data all over the world. From air quality, cloud formation, and weather processes, to greenhouse gas emissions from human activities and atmospheric composition, the FAAM Airborne Laboratory’s specially adapted research aircraft enables researchers to understand our changing environment. Over 1300 flights have collected a wealth of data from across the world.

Why is this data useful?  

There are a huge number of use cases for atmospheric data. Some examples include:

• Tracking flight disruption from volcanic eruptions
• Understanding health implications from human activities, such as cargo ship emissions
• Reducing uncertainty in climate predictions
• Improving storm predictions

The data includes atmospheric measurements such as:

• Meteorology - e.g. temperature, humidity, pressure, air motion, solar irradiance
• Chemical composition e.g. greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane
• Atmospheric chemistry - e.g. soot, aerosols, cloud condensation nuclei
• Cloud physics - e.g. droplets, particles, water content

We need your help!  

We’ve launched two surveys to gain understanding of the FAAM data user base (both existing and new), and to identify any accessibility barriers and how to overcome them.

Anyone who has used, or has an interest in using, FAAM data can respond to our surveys:

• Existing users - please fill in this survey
• Potential new users - please fill in this survey

Please share these surveys widely with your communities.

We know these data are regularly reused. However, we have a limited understanding of who is using them, what they are doing or would like to do. We do not know whether there are barriers for users engaging with these data.

We think that the data collected by the FAAM aircraft may be useful to a broader community e.g. by health researchers. But we do not know who or how they would like to use the data.

We want to broaden the user base of data held by the NERC Environmental Data Service (EDS), such as FAAM. To do this, we need to understand who is currently using the data, why and how - whilst also finding out who else is interested in making use of the data.

These surveys are the initial steps to increasing our understanding about challenges faced by new and existing data users. We will also be hosting some focus groups/workshops later in the summer to discuss in more detail.

This work is being undertaken by members of the NERC Environmental Data Service (EDS) and will help us to improve our data and services.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us: support@ceda.ac.uk