ML3DZSO2: Daily Binned Sulfur Dioxide Measurements from Aura Satellite

Daily near-global measurements of sulfur dioxide (SO2) mixing ratios from the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument. The data is binned on zonal and vertical grids, covering latitudes from -82 to +82 degrees at 4-degree increments and a vertical range from 215 to 10 hPa. Data files contain one year of data per file and are archived in netCDF4 format.

Use Cases

• Monitoring volcanic sulfur dioxide emissions based on daily binned, near-global satellite measurements.
• Analyzing stratospheric SO2 distribution and variability based on zonal mean data across pressure and potential temperature grids.
• Studying atmospheric chemistry and transport processes based on data binned by equivalent latitude and vortex averages.
• Validating atmospheric model outputs for sulfur dioxide based on the provided average, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation fields.

Strengths

• Data provides near-global spatial coverage from -82 to +82 degrees latitude.
• Vertical resolution is specified as about 3 km within a recommended range of 215 to 10 hPa.
• Each data file contains a full year of measurements, facilitating longitudinal analysis.
• Data includes multiple statistical views (average, min, max, std dev, rms) across four different grouping dimensions.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific ML tasks.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the satellite's near-global but not fully polar coverage.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from radiances measured by the 240 GHz radiometer on the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS).

Time Range

Data files contain one year of data per file.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 00:03:07.706855; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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