OCO-3: Satellite-Based Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Measurements

OCO-3 Level 2 Lite data provides bias-corrected column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of carbon dioxide (XCO2) from the International Space Station. The dataset is produced by three high-resolution spectrometers measuring reflected sunlight in specific near-infrared and oxygen A-band wavelengths to characterize processes controlling atmospheric CO2 buildup. A fast Bayesian retrieval algorithm estimates surface pressure and albedo while screening for clouds and aerosols.

Use Cases

• Monitoring regional carbon fluxes based on daily aggregated XCO2 measurements.
• Validating atmospheric transport models using the bias-corrected full-physics retrieval outputs.
• Studying diurnal and seasonal CO2 variability from the ISS sun-synchronous orbit data.
• Assessing cloud and aerosol contamination in satellite retrievals using the Oxygen-A Band screening algorithm.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated NASA mission designed for high-precision, space-based CO2 measurement.
• Uses a multi-spectrometer instrument (OCO-3) deployed on the ISS, providing a specific observation platform.
• Implements a documented cloud-screening algorithm (OCO ABO2) based on a Bayesian retrieval.
• Is version-controlled, with v10.4r noted as the current, superseding version.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing or conflicting: no row count, file size, or specific column details are provided.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.
• The description is highly technical regarding the retrieval algorithm but lacks concrete details about the data structure and accessibility.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument on the International Space Station.

Time Range

Instrument deployed in May 2019; dataset includes retrospective processing.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to datagov entries.

Geography

Global coverage from the ISS orbit.