HIRDLS/Aura Level 3 Geopotential Height Zonal Fourier Coefficients

HIRDLS/Aura Level 3 Geopotential Height Zonal Fourier Coefficients version 7 (H3ZFCGPH) contains the entire mission (~3 years) of HIRDLS satellite data expressed as zonal Fourier coefficients. The data are provided on a pressure grid with 121 levels from 1000 to 0.01 hPa, offering about 1 km vertical resolution, and are stored in HDF-EOS5 format. This product was created by NASA using a Kalman filter approach on Level 2 profiles.

Use Cases

• Modeling atmospheric wave patterns based on zonal Fourier coefficients
• Analyzing vertical atmospheric structure based on the 121-level pressure grid
• Studying diurnal variations based on separate ascending (daytime) and descending (nighttime) data fields
• Reconstructing geopotential height at any longitude based on the sine and cosine coefficients

Strengths

• Entire mission (~3 years) of data included
• High vertical resolution with 121 pressure levels from 1000 to 0.01 hPa
• Coefficients allow computation of values at any longitude
• Separate data fields for ascending, descending, and combined orbit nodes

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Data coverage is limited from -64 to 80 degrees latitude
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Coefficients computed from HIRDLS Level 2 profiles with a Kalman filter approach using both forward and backward passes in time.

Time Range

Entire HIRDLS mission (~3 years)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:29:06.561398; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global coverage from -64 to 80 degrees latitude