The GSFC Lidar Observation and Validation Experiment (GLOVE) field campaign

Abstract

The Goddard Space Flight Center's Lidar Observation and Validation Experiment (GLOVE) was a field campaign conducted from 27 January to 28 February 2025, based out of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Its main goals were to validate atmospheric data products from the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) and the Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite missions. The campaign utilized NASA's high-altitude Earth Resources-2 (ER-2) aircraft, equipped with four remote sensing instruments-including two lidars, a radar, and a spectrometer. GLOVE carried out eight flights totaling 40 flight hours and successfully captured seven ICESat-2 and six EarthCARE underflight segments of varying atmospheric conditions (i.e., aerosols, cirrus, and stratocumulus clouds) and surface types. The data collected during ICESat-2 underflights, especially of cirrus clouds and aerosols, offer valuable opportunities to assess the performance of both the operational and newer research-grade atmospheric ICESat-2 data products during daytime. Notably, the data from the Cloud Radar System (CRS), especially from snow-producing clouds, will play an important role in understanding the potential errors and uncertainties in EarthCARE Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) Doppler data, the first-ever radar Doppler velocity measurements from space. All GLOVE data products are publicly accessible through a NASA Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) or other free, open-access repositories (please see Sect. 4, “Data availability”, for the DOIs and full data set citations). GLOVE serves as an example for conducting cost-effective and efficient airborne satellite validation campaigns.