GOSAT Satellite Greenhouse Gas and Aerosol Measurements

ESA's archive provides global atmospheric data from the GOSAT satellite's TANSO-FTS and TANSO-CAI instruments. The collection includes Level 1B to Level 4A processed products for carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, aerosols, and cloud properties. Data is made available as soon as processed and received from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Use Cases

• Modeling global CO2 and CH4 fluxes using the FTS L4A annual flux products (FTS_F01M4A, FTS_F02M4A).
• Analyzing spatial distributions of greenhouse gases with the FTS L3 global CO2 and CH4 distribution maps (FTS_C01S_3, FTS_C02S_3).
• Correcting for cloud and aerosol interference in gas retrievals using CAI L2 cloud flag (CAI_CLDM_2) and L3 reflectivity data (CAI_TRCF_3).
• Retrieving column densities of CO2, CH4, and H2O from SWIR band spectra in FTS L2 products (FTS_C01S_2, FTS_C02S_2, FTS_C03S_2).
• Monitoring vegetation health and land cover changes with the CAI L3 global NDVI product (CAI_NDVI_3).

Strengths

• Includes high spectral resolution data across four bands from visible to thermal infrared.
• Provides greenhouse gas column retrievals with a stated accuracy of 1%.
• Offers near-real-time FTS L1X products available 2-5 hours after satellite acquisition.
• Covers multiple processing levels from raw radiances (L1B) to derived global flux estimates (L4A).

Limitations

• Specific row counts, temporal coverage start/end dates, and spatial resolution details are not provided in the description.
• The L1X near-real-time products lack CAM data, best-estimate pointing, and target point classification present in standard L1B products.

Provenance

Source

European Space Agency (ESA) archive, with data acquired from the GOSAT satellite instruments operated by JAXA.

Collection Method

Data collected by the TANSO-FTS (Fourier Transform Spectrometer) and TANSO-CAI (Cloud and Aerosol Imager) instruments onboard the GOSAT satellite.

Freshness

Data is made available as soon as processed; Near-Real-Time products are available 2-5 hours after acquisition.

Geography

Global coverage.