Daily Binned Water Vapor Mixing Ratio from Aura MLS Satellite

One year of daily binned water vapor (H2O) mixing ratio data derived from the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) 190 GHz radiometer. The dataset is produced by the GES DISC and contains zonal mean averages across multiple vertical grids. Data is stored in netCDF4 files, each containing four group objects with statistical measures.

Use Cases

• Analyze lat vs pressure zonal mean fields to study the vertical and latitudinal distribution of water vapor.
• Use lat vs potential temperature zonal mean data to investigate water vapor variability in isentropic coordinates.
• Examine equivalent latitude vs potential temperature zonal means for polar vortex studies and atmospheric transport.
• Compare vortex average vs potential temperature data to understand water vapor behavior inside and outside the polar vortex.
• Utilize the statistical fields (average, min, max, std dev, rms) within each group to quantify uncertainty and variability in water vapor measurements.

Strengths

• Near-global spatial coverage from -82 to +82 degrees latitude at 4-degree zonal increments.
• Vertical data coverage spans from 316 hPa to 0.00215 hPa with defined resolution characteristics.
• Data files contain multiple statistical measures (average, min, max, std dev, rms) for each grid group.

Limitations

• The vertical resolution degrades from 1.5 km at 316 hPa to 15 km above 0.1 hPa, limiting fine-scale analysis in the upper atmosphere.
• Dataset description does not specify the exact year or years of data coverage, limiting temporal context.
• No information provided on data version update frequency or the specific processing date for the files.

Provenance

Source

GES_DISC (NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center)

Collection Method

Derived from radiances measured by the 190 GHz radiometer on the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) satellite.

Time Range

One year of data per file (specific years not stated).

Freshness

null

Geography

Near-global, -82 to +82 degrees latitude.