OCO-2 L2 Met: Global Atmospheric CO2 Sounding Data with Meteorological Parameters

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission provides the first space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide designed to characterize the processes controlling its buildup. This Level 2 dataset includes meteorological parameters interpolated from a global assimilation model for each satellite sounding. It incorporates spectrometer measurements of reflected sunlight at specific near-infrared wavelengths to detect CO2 and molecular oxygen.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global carbon dioxide sources and sinks based on high-resolution spectrometer measurements.
• Studying the relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentrations and interpolated meteorological parameters.
• Validating and improving global carbon cycle models using space-based atmospheric chemistry data.
• Tracking changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup over time from satellite soundings.

Strengths

• Data is from NASA's first mission specifically designed for precise space-based CO2 measurements.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA EarthData and Data.gov signals its importance and official status.
• The dataset is at Version 11.2, superseding all older versions for consistency.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing or conflicting across sources: column names, row counts, and exact license terms are unknown.
• The 'last updated' date of 2026-04-09 is a future date, indicating a potential metadata error.
• Documentation is limited to descriptions; specific data formats and access details are unclear.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC)

Collection Method

Measurements collected by the OCO-2 satellite's three high-resolution spectrometers, with meteorological parameters interpolated from a global assimilation model.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:33:31.674506

Geography

Global