SOFIE: Solar Occultation Atmospheric Profiles from NASA

Daily netCDF files from NASA's Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE) instrument provide Level 2 atmospheric profiles. The data includes mixing ratios for gases like CO2, CH4, NO, H2O, and O3, along with 10 aerosol extinction profiles, uncertainty profiles, temperature, pressure, and location data. Vertical sampling occurs from 150 km to 3.0 km, with 30 profiles generated per day.

Use Cases

• Modeling greenhouse gas concentrations based on mixing ratios for CO2, CH4, NO, H2O, and O3.
• Analyzing aerosol distribution and optical properties based on 10 extinction profiles.
• Studying atmospheric temperature and pressure structure from profiles with less than 3.5 km vertical resolution.
• Mapping measurement locations for satellite occultation events based on latitude and longitude data.

Strengths

• Includes uncertainty profiles for mixing ratios and extinctions, aiding in error analysis.
• Provides 30 profiles per day, offering a high temporal sampling rate.
• Vertical resolution is 1 km for gases and polar mesospheric clouds, providing detailed atmospheric structure.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected via the Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE) instrument.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:37:19.479275; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage based on satellite occultation events.