OCO-2: Satellite Measurements of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission provides space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The dataset contains depacketized raw data from three high-resolution spectrometers, formatted as input for the Level 1B processing chain. Version 11.2 is the current version, superseding all older releases.

Use Cases

• Calibrating spectrometer instruments based on the independent calibration data mentioned in the description
• Characterizing atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup processes based on the precision measurements described
• Developing Level 1B retrieval processes using the formatted raw data as input
• Analyzing spectral signatures in the near-infrared and oxygen A-Band wavelengths referenced

Strengths

• Data is from the first NASA mission specifically designed for precise, space-based CO2 measurements
• Each of the three spectrometer bands provides 1016 spectral elements
• Version 11.2 is the current and supported version, superseding older data

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the OCO-2 satellite's LEOStar-2 spacecraft carrying a single instrument with three spectrometers.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 22:51:00.322580; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global, from satellite orbit.