ML3DZCH3CL: Daily Binned Methyl Chloride Mixing Ratios from Aura Satellite

EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder daily binned data for methyl chloride (CH3Cl) mixing ratios. The dataset provides near-global coverage from August 2004 to present, with vertical resolution ranging from 4-10 km. It is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and archived in netCDF4 format.

Use Cases

• Modeling stratospheric chlorine chemistry based on methyl chloride mixing ratio data.
• Analyzing long-term trends in atmospheric halogens based on the near-global, multi-decade time series.
• Studying vertical distribution of trace gases based on the pressure and potential temperature grids.
• Investigating polar vortex dynamics based on the equivalent latitude and vortex average data groups.

Strengths

• Data coverage spans from August 2, 2004 to current, providing a multi-decade record.
• Spatial coverage is near-global, from -82 to +82 degrees latitude at 4-degree increments.
• Data is structured into four distinct group objects (e.g., lat vs pressure, vortex average) with statistical fields like average, min, max, and standard deviation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

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, 2004 to current

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:33:05.916597; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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