AIRS Satellite Daily Mid-Tropospheric CO2 Gridded Retrievals

Global satellite data provides daily gridded measurements of mid-tropospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The dataset is produced by the AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, with retrievals averaged into 2.5° x 2° grid cells. It contains mean CO2 mole fractions, standard deviations, and input counts for each grid cell from September 2002 onward.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global patterns of atmospheric CO2 concentration using the gridded mean values.
• Assessing retrieval uncertainty for climate models by referencing the standard deviation maps.
• Evaluating data density and sampling reliability per region via the integer counts map.
• Tracking temporal changes in mid-tropospheric CO2 over the satellite's operational period.
• Correlating satellite-derived CO2 with ground-based or other observational datasets using the provided latitude and longitude arrays.

Strengths

• Provides a long-term, continuous record from the Aqua satellite launch in 2002.
• Includes quality metrics per grid cell: mean, standard deviation, and an integer count of contributing retrievals.
• Offers a consistent global spatial coverage with a defined 2.5° x 2° grid resolution.
• Data is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata, Data.gov), indicating reliability and broad access.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to latitudes between -60.0° and +90.0°, excluding the highest polar regions.
• Sources disagree on the last update date: NASA Earthdata lists 2017-02-28, while Data.gov lists 2026-03-13.
• Specific row counts, total size, and detailed column names are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Retrievals from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) grating spectrometer on the Aqua satellite, averaged and binned into daily grids.

Time Range

From the Aqua satellite launch and AIRS operational start (September 2002) to present.

Freshness

Conflict: NASA Earthdata lists 2017-02-28; Data.gov lists 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global, gridded from -180.0° to +180.0° longitude and -60.0° to +90.0° latitude.