ML3DBCH3CL: Daily Global Methyl Chloride Levels from Aura Satellite

Near-global (-82 to +82 degrees latitude) daily binned measurements of methyl chloride (CH3Cl) mixing ratios from the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). The data version is 5.1, with coverage from August 2, 2005 to the present, archived in netCDF4 format. Each file contains six group objects with statistical data (average, min, max, std dev, rms) across various vertical grids and coordinate systems.

Use Cases

• Modeling stratospheric chlorine transport based on vertical profiles of methyl chloride mixing ratios.
• Analyzing long-term trends in halogen source gases using the near-global, daily time-series data.
• Studying polar vortex chemistry using the vortex average vs potential temperature data groups.
• Mapping spatial distributions of CH3Cl using the lat-lon map vs pressure data groups.

Strengths

• Data coverage spans from August 2, 2005 to current, providing a long-term record.
• Spatial coverage is near-global (-82 to +82 degrees latitude) at 4° lat by 5° lon resolution.
• Each data file contains six structured group objects with statistical measures (average, min, max, std dev, rms).
• Vertical resolution is specified as 4-6 km in the lower stratosphere and 8-10 km above 14 hPa.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.
• The recommended useful vertical range is limited to between 147 and 4.64 hPa.

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).

Time Range

August 2, 2005 to current

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:04:09.894619; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Near-global (-82 to +82 degrees latitude)