FAAM Data Types
The apparatus that can be flown onboard the BAE-146 aircraft include a large
variety of
instruments,
that can be fit onto the aircraft to meet the mission goals.
Instrument specifications can be found in the
FAAM Documentation archive.
The measurements, accompanied by extensive metadata, include
meteorology, cloud physics and chemical composition data, as well as
parameters required for aircraft navigation.
The FAAM flights include
- Test or calibration flights
to test the aircraft operations and the scientific equipment.
Data generated during these flights are permanently restricted
to the group of scientists involved in the test flights.
- Field campaign flights supporting research projects.
The above two types of flights generate data and metadata that are further
subdivided into the following categories.
- Flight logs. In PDF format.
Campaign flight logs are publicly available.
- Flight constants needed to process the raw core data.
These are archived in text files alongside the raw core data (see below)
and are restricted to FAAM instrument operators.
- Core data.
These data are produced by instruments which have been recognised as "core"
instruments by the FAAM Board.
Core instruments are defined in the
List of FAAM
instruments and are operated by staff appointed by the FAAM.
-
Raw core data (i.e. data as they are produced by the instrument and in the
format specific to the instrument) are restricted to the FAAM staff.
-
Processed core data from campaigns are available to all unless otherwise
requested
by the project principal investigator(s), in which case access to the
data cannot be restricted for more than 12 months following the campaign
last flight.
A description (text) file is generally provided beside each processed
core data file.
- Non-core data.
All data that are not core data.
Non-core instruments are operated by the scientists who conduct the
experiment.
Access to non-core data from campaigns is ruled by the various programme
protocols involved, which usually imply the release of the data to the public
domain at some stage after a restriced access period of time.