OCO-2 Level 1B: Calibrated Satellite Radiances for CO2

Version 11.2r is the current version of this dataset, superseding all older versions. It contains calibrated radiance spectra and geolocation information from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite, produced by converting raw instrument data numbers. The data is derived from three high-resolution spectrometers measuring reflected sunlight at specific near-infrared wavelengths for carbon dioxide and molecular oxygen.

Use Cases

• Validating higher-level carbon dioxide retrieval algorithms based on calibrated spectral radiances.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of atmospheric radiance for climate model input based on geolocated measurements.
• Calibrating other satellite instruments by comparing co-located spectral observations.
• Studying instrument performance over time using time-series data of calibrated radiances.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated NASA mission designed for precise atmospheric CO2 measurement.
• Each spectrometer band provides 1016 spectral elements, suggesting high spectral resolution.
• The dataset is actively maintained, with a last update recorded on 2026-04-09.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• One source lists a license as 'other-license-specified' while another lists 'None', creating ambiguity.
• Descriptions are repetitive and lack technical detail on data structure or access methods.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the OCO-2 spacecraft's three high-resolution spectrometers.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:34:18.573129

Geography

Global, from satellite orbit.