MLS/Aura HOCl Data: Daily Stratospheric Hypochlorous Acid Measurements

Near-global (-82 to +82 degrees latitude) daily binned measurements of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) mixing ratios in the stratosphere. The data is produced by NASA's EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) satellite, version 5.1, and is archived in netCDF4 format with one year of data per file. It includes zonal means and vortex averages across different orbit and day/night profiles.

Use Cases

• Modeling stratospheric chlorine chemistry based on daily binned HOCl mixing ratios.
• Analyzing seasonal or latitudinal variations in HOCl based on zonal mean data.
• Studying diurnal differences in atmospheric composition using daytime and nighttime profile groups.
• Investigating polar vortex dynamics using the vortex average vs potential temperature data.

Strengths

• Data version is explicitly stated as 5.1, indicating a specific processing level.
• Spatial coverage is near-global from -82 to +82 degrees latitude at 4-degree increments.
• Recommended useful vertical range is specified from 10 to 2.15 hPa with a vertical resolution of about 6 km.
• Files contain one year of data and are in netCDF4 format, compatible with standard scientific tools.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from radiances measured by the 640 GHz radiometer on the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) satellite.

Time Range

Each file contains one year of data; specific years are not stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:33:01.409648; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Near-global coverage from -82 to +82 degrees latitude.