AMDBLWV: Marine Boundary Layer Water Vapor Under Clouds

Global ocean data provides daily 1-degree gridded estimates of water vapor in the marine atmospheric boundary layer beneath uniform cloud fields. The dataset is derived from microwave radiometry (AMSR-E/AMSR-2) and near-infrared imagery (MODIS) to calculate the vapor between the surface and cloud top. Version 2 uses an improved methodology to screen out high clouds.

Use Cases

• Validating atmospheric boundary layer parameterizations in climate models based on satellite-derived water vapor estimates.
• Studying the relationship between low-level cloud fields and near-surface humidity over the global oceans.
• Analyzing temporal trends in marine boundary layer moisture content for climate change research.
• Assimilating boundary layer water vapor data into numerical weather prediction models for maritime regions.

Strengths

• Dataset is Version 2, which uses an improved methodology to screen out high clouds.
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov and NASA Earthdata suggests established importance and curation.
• Produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, indicating authoritative origin.

Limitations

• Column names and data structure are unknown, limiting immediate usability.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources (2026-04-10 on data.gov vs. 2017-12-31 on NASA Earthdata).
• Dataset size and row counts are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from microwave radiometry (AMSR-E, AMSR-2) and near-infrared imagery (MODIS).

Freshness

2026-04-10 (from data.gov, though this is a future date which may be an error)

Geography

Global oceans