OCO-3: Spatially Ordered Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Retrievals from the ISS

Version 10 is the current version of this dataset, superseding all older versions. The data contains spatially ordered, geolocated retrievals of atmospheric carbon dioxide from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument, which was deployed to the International Space Station in May 2019. It is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and uses high-resolution spectrometer measurements for precise characterization of CO2 buildup.

Use Cases

• Characterizing processes controlling atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup based on the mission's stated design purpose.
• Estimating surface pressure and albedo using the described fast Bayesian retrieval algorithm on O2 A-band spectra.
• Screening for cloud and aerosol contamination in measurement scenes based on the described clear-sky forward model assumption.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in CO2 concentrations from the International Space Station's vantage point.

Strengths

• Data is from the current Version 10, superseding all older versions.
• Measurements are designed for high precision, resolution, and coverage needed to characterize CO2 processes.
• Uses three independently calibrated high-resolution spectrometers for coincident measurements.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The forward model assumes clear-sky conditions, which may introduce errors in scenes with cloud or aerosol.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

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

Time Range

Data collection began after deployment in May 2019.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:30:41.849608; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from the International Space Station's orbit.