OCO-3: Satellite-Based Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Retrievals

OCO-3 Level 2 spatially ordered geolocated retrievals screened using the A-band Preprocessor, Forward Processing V10 is a NASA mission dataset from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 instrument on the International Space Station. It provides high-resolution, space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide using three calibrated spectrometers. The data is processed with a specific algorithm that uses oxygen A-band spectra for cloud screening and to estimate surface pressure and albedo.

Use Cases

• Characterizing global carbon dioxide buildup processes based on precise, space-based atmospheric measurements.
• Screening for cloud and aerosol contamination in satellite observations using the Oxygen-A Band algorithm.
• Estimating surface pressure and surface albedo via fast Bayesian retrieval of molecular oxygen A-band spectra.
• Analyzing time-series trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from the International Space Station vantage point.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated NASA mission (OCO-3) designed for high-precision CO2 measurement.
• Incorporates a specific, described cloud-screening algorithm (ABO2) using a fast Bayesian retrieval.
• Represents the current, authoritative version (V10), superseding all older releases.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing or conflicting across platforms: no column names, row counts, or size information are provided.
• The license is listed as 'other-license-specified' on some platforms but 'None' on others, creating uncertainty.
• Documentation of the specific data format and structure for end-users appears to be incomplete.

Provenance

Source

NASA GES DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center)

Collection Method

Measurements from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument deployed on the International Space Station in May 2019.

Time Range

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

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:31:23.819375

Geography

Global, from the orbital path of the International Space Station.