AIRS Aqua Satellite Atmospheric Profiles and Trace Gas Grids

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder aboard NASA's Aqua satellite provides Level 3 8-day gridded retrievals of atmospheric parameters. Each file contains mean values, standard deviations, and input counts for geophysical variables averaged into 1-degree global grid cells. The dataset is produced by NASA's Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), with a documented update from 2016.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global skin temperature and surface air temperature patterns from the 'Skin Temperature' and 'Air Temperature at the surface' parameters.
• Studying vertical profiles of water vapor and air temperature for atmospheric dynamics.
• Monitoring column precipitable water and cloud properties such as 'Cloud Amount/Frequency' and 'Cloud Height' for climate modeling.
• Tracking total amounts and vertical profiles of trace gases like 'Carbon Monoxide', 'Methane', and 'Ozone' for pollution and greenhouse gas studies.
• Creating custom multi-day composite maps using the provided integer counts grid to weight daily observations.

Strengths

• Provides standard deviation maps alongside mean values for each parameter, allowing for uncertainty analysis.
• Includes a 2-byte integer grid map of counts per 1-degree bin, enabling users to generate weighted custom multi-day averages.
• Covers a global spatial extent from -180.0 to +180.0 degrees longitude and -90.0 to +90.0 degrees latitude.

Limitations

• The exact column names and variable structures are not provided; users must infer them from a separate Processing File Description document.
• Sources conflict on license information: one platform lists 'other-license-specified', while others list it as unknown or None.
• The dataset's last update is noted as 2016-10-01, which may indicate a lack of recent updates.

Provenance

Source

GES_DISC

Collection Method

Data is gathered by the AIRS grating spectrometer aboard the EOS Aqua satellite, combined with AMSU and HSB sensors, and processed into Level 3 8-day gridded retrieval products.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2016-10-01 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Global coverage from -180.0 to +180.0 deg longitude and -90.0 to +90.0 deg latitude.