Daily Global Aerosol Optical Thickness Maps from GCOM-C Satellite

1150 km swath data from the SGLI sensor onboard the GCOM-C satellite provides daily, global aerosol optical thickness measurements at a 1/12-degree resolution. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) produces this Level 3 map-projected product, which integrates data over ocean and land from Version 3. The satellite was launched on December 23, 2017 for long-term climate observations.

Use Cases

• Analyze daily average (AVE) aerosol optical thickness values to track regional pollution events or dust storms.
• Use the quality flag (QA_flag) column to filter and validate data for climate model assimilation studies.
• Compare aerosol optical thickness over ocean (AOTO) and over land (AOTL/AOTP) features to study aerosol transport between continents.
• Integrate the 1/12-degree spatial resolution geospatial data into Earth system models for higher accuracy global warming prediction.

Strengths

• Global coverage from a satellite with a 1150 km visible band swath.
• Provides data at three statistical periods: 1 day, 8 days, and 1 month.
• Version 3 product integrates three specific aerosol thickness datasets (AOTO, AOTL, AOTP).

Limitations

• Specific row count, sample size, and temporal coverage details are unknown.
• Data format is HDF5, which may require specialized libraries for access and processing.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Collection Method

Derived from Level 1B and Level 2 products from the SGLI sensor on the GCOM-C satellite by statistical processing in time and space.

Time Range

Since satellite launch on December 23, 2017.

Freshness

Daily product generation.

Geography

Global.