NASA OCO Project: Carbon Dioxide Column-Averaged Dry Air Mole Fraction

Version 9r is the current version of this dataset, superseding all older versions. The ACOS Lite files contain bias-corrected column-averaged dry air mole fraction of Carbon Dioxide (XCO2) and other select fields, aggregated daily from orbital granules of the ACOS Level 2 standard product. These highest-level products are produced by the NASA OCO Project using TANSO-FTS spectral radiances from the GOSAT satellite, with JAXA providing the Level 1B data products.

Use Cases

• Modeling global carbon dioxide sources and sinks based on column-averaged dry air mole fraction (XCO2) data.
• Analyzing temporal trends in atmospheric CO2 concentrations based on daily aggregated bias-corrected fields.
• Validating terrestrial biosphere and carbon cycle models using satellite-derived XCO2 measurements.
• Studying the spatial distribution of CO2 using geolocation information from the ACOS Level 2 production process.

Strengths

• Data is the current 'Version 9r', indicating active maintenance and version control.
• Products are derived from calibrated TANSO-FTS spectral radiances, suggesting a processed, scientific-grade source.
• Files contain bias-corrected XCO2, which may improve accuracy for downstream analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

NASA OCO Project, using GOSAT TANSO-FTS Level 1B data products from JAXA.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the GOSAT satellite's TANSO-FTS instrument, processed through the ACOS Level 2 production chain.

Time Range

Daily files are produced, but a specific temporal coverage range is not stated.

Freshness

Version 9r is stated as the current version, but a specific last updated date is not provided.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits, but specific spatial bounds are not detailed.