Global Aerosol Optical Thickness Binned Statistics From GCOM-C Satellite

Eight-day binned statistics of aerosol optical thickness are derived from the SGLI sensor aboard the JAXA GCOM-C satellite. The dataset provides average, root-mean-square, maximum, and minimum values at a 1/12-degree spatial resolution with global coverage. Data production is managed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency using observations from the satellite launched in December 2017.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in the AVE (average) aerosol optical thickness to study seasonal pollution patterns.
• Assess data quality and uncertainty for specific regions using the RMS (root-mean-square) and QA_flag (quality flag) fields.
• Model aerosol transport by comparing MAX (maximum value) and MIN (minimum value) statistics across different geographic bins.
• Calibrate other satellite products by comparing the Nused (number of used data) statistic against expected observation counts.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage with a consistent 1/12-degree grid resolution.
• Includes multiple statistical measures (AVE, RMS, MAX, MIN, Ninput, Nused) for each binned observation.
• Data is part of a long-term observation mission from a satellite launched in 2017, supporting time-series analysis.
• Product integrates three aerosol optical thickness retrievals (AOTO, AOTL, AOTP) into a unified dataset in Version 3.

Limitations

• The 8-day binning period may smooth out short-term aerosol events like dust storms or wildfire plumes.
• Specific row count and total file size are unknown, complicating storage and processing planning.
• Data quality is contingent on the underlying Level 1B and Level 2 retrieval algorithms, which may contain systematic errors.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) GCOM-C satellite with the SGLI sensor.

Collection Method

Statistically processed from Level 1B and Level 2 products, binned in time and space to a 1/12-degree grid with EQA projection.

Time Range

Time series begins after the satellite's launch on December 23, 2017; specific end date is null.

Freshness

Update frequency is implied by the 8-day, 1-day, and 1-month statistical periods, but specific latency is null.

Geography

Global.