MOPITT V9: Satellite-Derived Tropospheric Carbon Monoxide Profiles

MOP02T_9 provides geo-located carbon monoxide profiles and total column amounts retrieved from thermal infrared radiances. Each retrieval includes ancillary surface property and cloud condition data, accompanied by an estimated error. Data collection is ongoing from the MOPITT instrument, launched aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft on December 18, 1999.

Use Cases

• Tracking global pollution transport patterns based on retrieved CO profiles.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry models using total column CO amounts and error estimates.
• Studying long-term trends in tropospheric carbon monoxide from the ongoing time series.
• Analyzing correlations between surface properties/cloud conditions and atmospheric CO concentrations.

Strengths

• Includes estimated error for each retrieval, supporting uncertainty quantification.
• Provides a long-term record from an instrument launched on December 18, 1999, with data collection ongoing.
• Contains both vertical profile and total column amount data for carbon monoxide.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not specified in the provided metadata.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-04-09 and 2025-02-01) create uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• Dataset size and row counts are unknown across all sources.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing using thermal infrared radiances.

Time Range

From December 18, 1999, onward (ongoing).

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:48:21.289984

Geography

Global coverage from a sun-synchronous polar orbit.