AIRS Aqua Satellite Atmospheric Sounding Support Data

AIRS/Aqua L3 8-day Support Multiday Product contains atmospheric sounding data from the AIRS grating spectrometer aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The dataset includes fields that are not fully validated, such as inputs or intermediary values, and may contain values from failed retrievals. NASA's Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) distributes this product.

Use Cases

• Analyzing atmospheric temperature profiles using infrared and microwave sensor data.
• Validating climate models with global, 1-degree gridded observations over 8-day periods.
• Investigating humidity and cloud properties via combined visible, infrared, and microwave measurements.
• Studying retrieval algorithm performance by examining support fields and intermediary values.

Strengths

• Data originates from a sophisticated instrument suite (AIRS, AMSU, HSB) with a spectral resolution of R=1200.
• Provides global coverage at a 1-degree x 1-degree spatial resolution.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov indicates institutional importance and availability.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Some fields are not fully validated and may include values from failed retrievals.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, with one listing 2016 and another listing a future date of 2026.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC)

Collection Method

Remote sensing data gathered by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), and Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) aboard the EOS Aqua satellite.

Freshness

2016-10-01 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Global