OCO-3: Orbiting Carbon Observatory Level 2 XCO2 Retrieval Results

NASA's OCO-3 Level 2 dataset provides geolocated atmospheric carbon dioxide (XCO2) retrieval results and diagnostic information from the instrument deployed on the International Space Station in May 2019. The data is produced by three high-resolution spectrometers measuring reflected sunlight in near-infrared and oxygen A-band wavelengths. Version 11 is the current forward processing version, superseding all older releases.

Use Cases

• Characterizing atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup processes based on space-based CO2 measurements.
• Estimating surface pressure and albedo using the fast Bayesian retrieval algorithm applied to O2 A-band spectra.
• Screening for clouds and aerosols by analyzing differences between modeled and measured radiances in clear-sky conditions.

Strengths

• Data is from a NASA mission specifically designed for high-precision, space-based CO2 measurements.
• Incorporates three independently calibrated spectrometers for coincident measurements.
• Version 11 is the current, authoritative version, superseding previous releases.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and data volume are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The forward model assumes clear-sky conditions, which may not reflect scenes with cloud or aerosol.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO 3) instrument on the International Space Station using high-resolution spectrometers.

Time Range

Data collection began after deployment in May 2019.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:30:27.863466; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from space-based measurements.