OCO-3: Space-Based Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Retrievals

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) Level 2 dataset provides spatially ordered, geolocated retrievals of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The instrument, deployed to the International Space Station in May 2019, uses three high-resolution spectrometers to measure reflected sunlight in near-infrared and oxygen A-band wavelengths. The data is processed with a specific A-band preprocessor algorithm for cloud screening and retrieval of surface pressure and albedo.

Use Cases

• Mapping global and regional atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations based on satellite spectrometer data.
• Screening for cloud-contaminated observations using the Oxygen A-band preprocessor algorithm.
• Estimating surface pressure and surface albedo from clear-sky O2 A-band spectra.
• Analyzing time-series trends in CO2 buildup from space-based measurements.
• Comparing retrieval performance and data continuity with the earlier OCO-2 mission.

Strengths

• Data is from a dedicated NASA mission designed for high-precision, space-based CO2 measurement.
• Incorporates a sophisticated cloud-screening algorithm (ABO2) using a fast Bayesian retrieval.
• Dataset is actively maintained, with Version 10r noted as the current, superseding version.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.
• One platform entry lists no tags, license, author, or update date, indicating inconsistent metadata curation.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Measurements from the OCO-3 instrument on the International Space Station, processed through the Level 2 retrieval pipeline.

Time Range

Measurements began after deployment in May 2019; specific end date not provided.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:19:46.582344

Geography

Global coverage from the International Space Station orbit.