OCO-2: Global Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Retrievals

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission provides Level 2 geolocated retrievals of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The dataset, processed to version 10r, contains spatially ordered measurements from three high-resolution spectrometers detecting reflected sunlight at specific near-infrared wavelengths. A known geolocation error affecting data from January 28 to December 31, 2020 was corrected and replaced by June 2021.

Use Cases

• Characterizing atmospheric CO2 buildup processes based on the mission's stated design for precision and coverage.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in carbon dioxide using geolocated, time-series satellite retrievals.
• Validating terrestrial and oceanic carbon flux models with global, space-based concentration measurements.
• Studying the impact of a ~300-meter pointing error, as documented in Kiel et al. (2019), on geolocation accuracy.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated NASA mission (OCO-2) designed for high-precision, space-based CO2 measurement.
• Contains corrected and replaced data for a specific period (Jan 28 - Dec 31, 2020) where a known geolocation error was identified.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and official status.

Limitations

• Column names and dataset size (row count, file size) are not provided in any source, limiting understanding of its structure and scale.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between sources (2022-03-01 and 2026-03-12), creating uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' or 'None', requiring users to investigate terms separately.

Provenance

Source

NASA OCO-2 mission, processed and distributed by GES DISC.

Collection Method

Satellite-based measurements from the LEOStar-2 spacecraft using three high-resolution spectrometers.

Time Range

Covers at least the period from January 28, 2020 onward, with specific corrections applied to data through December 31,我们发现 2020.

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:49:26.011398

Geography

Global coverage from satellite observations.