SAFARI 2000 C-130 Aerosol and Meteorological Data, Dry Season 2000

The Met Office C-130 research aircraft was based at Windhoek, Namibia, between September 5-16, 2000, where it conducted a series of flights over Namibia as part of the SAFARI 2000 Dry Season Aircraft Campaign. The aims of the Met Office's research were as follows: (1) In-situ measurements of the physical, chemical and optical properties of the aerosol. The data set includes aerosol samples ranging from near source regions to aged plumes several hundreds of kilometres from source, some of which have been cloud processed. (2) Investigation of the direct radiative impact of aerosol over sea, land and low-level cloud. (3) In-situ measurements of aerosol properties in conjunction with ground-based sites to validate the ground-based retrievals of, for example, aerosol size distributions. (4) In-situ measurements of aerosol properties in conjunction with TERRA overpasses, in order to validate the satellite-based retrievals of aerosol properties. (5) In-situ measurements of stratus/stratocumulus cloud of Namibia/Angola in conjunction with TERRA overpasses, in order to validate satellite-based retrievals of cloud properties.