AIRS3C2M: Monthly Mid-Tropospheric CO2 Concentrations from Satellite

Global monthly gridded data of mid-tropospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, measured by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The data is provided at a 2.5 by 2-degree spatial resolution, covering latitudes from -60 to +90 degrees, with values in mole fraction units. This Level 3 retrieval product contains mean values, standard deviations, and counts of observations per grid cell for each calendar month.

Use Cases

• Modeling global carbon dioxide transport and fluxes based on the monthly gridded concentration data.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in mid-tropospheric CO2 based on the 2.5x2 degree global grid.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry and climate models using the satellite-derived standard deviation and observation count maps.
• Studying the sensitivity of CO2 measurements in the 6-10 km altitude range, as weighted by the AIRS retrieval function.

Strengths

• Data is derived from the AIRS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, a recognized scientific platform.
• Provides three data layers per month: mean CO2, standard deviation, and observation counts for quality assessment.
• Covers a broad geographic range from -60 to +90 degrees latitude on a consistent 2.5x2 degree grid.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific statistical methods.
• The data represents a weighted atmospheric profile (6 10 km) and is not a total column quantity, which may limit direct comparisons with other CO2 datasets.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite retrievals from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument, averaged and binned into monthly global grids.

Time Range

Monthly coverage, with each file covering a calendar month.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 06:13:55.606487; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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