MOPITT Satellite Gridded Monthly Carbon Monoxide Data

December 1999 to present data from the MOPITT instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft, providing unvalidated beta monthly means of carbon monoxide profiles and total columns. This Level 3 product includes gridded averaging kernels and thermal infrared radiance data, funded by the Canadian Space Agency. Collection is ongoing, with the dataset representing a beta version subject to recalibration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global and regional trends in atmospheric carbon monoxide concentrations over time.
• Validating and improving chemical transport models using satellite-derived CO profile and total column data.
• Studying pollution transport and seasonal variations using the gridded monthly mean format.
• Assessing retrieval algorithm performance and uncertainty via the included averaging kernels.

Strengths

• Provides a continuous, long-term record from December 1999 to the present, enabling trend analysis.
• Includes gridded averaging kernels, which are critical for proper interpretation and use of the retrieval data.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and curation.

Limitations

• Product is explicitly labeled as an unvalidated beta version subject to recalibration.
• Specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided in the available metadata.
• Conflicting license information exists between sources ('other-license-specified' and 'None').

Provenance

Source

NASA's Terra spacecraft MOPITT instrument, constructed by a Canadian consortium and funded by the Canadian Space Agency.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via thermal infrared radiances, processed into gridded monthly means from daily Level 2 retrievals.

Time Range

December 1999 - present

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:20:46.156905

Geography

Global coverage from a sun-synchronous polar orbit.