Aqua AIRS L2 Support Retrieval with HSB Instrument Data

Global atmospheric profiles from the Aqua satellite's AIRS, AMSU, and HSB instruments. The dataset contains five months of high-resolution vertical profiles from September 2002 through January 2003, generated by NASA's GES DISC. It includes 100 pressure levels per profile, intermediate retrieval outputs, and trace gas abundances for research use.

Use Cases

• Generating forward radiances using the 100-level vertical profiles for atmospheric modeling.
• Examining research products like trace gas abundance from the Support Product retrievals.
• Analyzing intermediate outputs such as microwave-only retrievals for algorithm validation.
• Studying atmospheric conditions during the specific five-month period of HSB instrument operation.

Strengths

• Contains 100 vertical pressure levels per profile, from 1100 mb to 0.016 mb, for detailed atmospheric structure.
• Includes unique science retrievals that incorporate data from the short-lived HSB instrument, available for only five months.
• Provides detailed quality assessment information alongside standard and intermediate retrieval outputs.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to five months (September 2002 to January 2003) due to HSB instrument failure.
• Sources conflict on the last update date: nasa_earthdata lists 2003-02-06, while datagov lists a future date of 2026-03-13.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the AIRS, AMSU, and HSB instruments aboard the EOS Aqua platform.

Time Range

September 2002 to January 2003

Freshness

2003-02-06 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Global