OCO-3: Space-Based Atmospheric CO2 and O2 Spectra

Global atmospheric data is collected by the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument deployed on the International Space Station in May 2019. The dataset contains calibrated, geolocated science spectra from three high-resolution spectrometers measuring reflected sunlight in near-infrared CO2 bands and the molecular oxygen A-band. These measurements are designed to characterize the processes controlling atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup.

Use Cases

• Estimating surface pressure and albedo using the fast Bayesian OCO ABO2 algorithm on O2 A-band spectra.
• Screening for clouds and aerosols by comparing modeled and measured radiances in clear-sky conditions.
• Analyzing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from calibrated near-infrared spectrometer data.
• Validating and comparing carbon flux models with space-based, time-series observations from the ISS.

Strengths

• Data originates from a NASA mission specifically designed for high-precision, space-based CO2 measurement.
• Incorporates a primary cloud-screening tool (Oxygen-A Band algorithm) validated on earlier satellite data like GOSAT and OCO-2.
• Spectrometers are calibrated independently, which likely enhances data reliability for each measured band.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all platform entries.
• The radiative transfer forward model assumes clear-sky, Rayleigh-only conditions, limiting accuracy in cloudy or aerosol-heavy scenes.
• License information is inconsistently reported, listed as 'other-license-specified' on some platforms but 'None' on others.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected by the OCO-3 instrument's three spectrometers on the International Space Station.

Time Range

Data collection began after deployment in May 2019; specific end date is not provided.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:32:23.353056

Geography

Global, from the orbit of the International Space Station.