Aqua Satellite Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Daily Support Product

The AIRS/Aqua L3 Daily Support product contains atmospheric sounding data from the AIRS grating spectrometer aboard the EOS Aqua satellite, combined with measurements from the AMSU and HSB sensors. It provides daily, 1-degree gridded intermediary values and inputs that are not fully validated, including potential values from failed retrievals. The dataset is produced by NASA's GES DISC.

Use Cases

• Validating atmospheric retrieval algorithms using intermediary sensor data.
• Analyzing daily trends in unvalidated atmospheric parameters across a 1-degree global grid.
• Investigating the combined signal from visible, infrared, and microwave sensors (AIRS+AMSU+HSB).

Strengths

• Data originates from a sophisticated grating spectrometer (R=1200) on a dedicated Earth observation satellite.
• Combines measurements from three distinct sensor types (visible, infrared, microwave) for a multi-spectral atmospheric profile.
• Provides daily temporal resolution on a consistent 1-degree x 1-degree global spatial grid.

Limitations

• Contains fields that are not fully validated and may include values from failed retrievals.
• No quality control information is available for some fields, limiting reliability for certain analyses.
• Cross-source conflict: The last updated date is reported as 2003-02-06 on NASA Earthdata but 2026-03-13 on Data.gov, suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), and Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) aboard the EOS Aqua platform.

Freshness

2026-03-13 18:37:31.378346

Geography

Global, 1-degree x 1-degree grid.