OMAEROZ: Satellite Aerosol Measurements at 13x12 km Resolution

Monthly data from March 2012 onward, collected during daylight orbits by the OMI instrument aboard NASA's Aura satellite. The OMAEROZ product provides high-resolution aerosol measurements using a multi-wavelength algorithm analyzing up to 20 bands between 331 nm and 500 nm. Key parameters include Aerosol Optical Depth, Single Scattering Albedo, Aerosol Type, and Aerosol Layer Height.

Use Cases

• Monitoring regional air quality and pollution plumes based on Aerosol Optical Depth and type.
• Studying aerosol-cloud interactions and radiative forcing using Single Scattering Albedo and layer height.
• Validating and improving atmospheric transport models with geolocated, orbit-level aerosol data.
• Analyzing long-term trends in atmospheric particulates from the monthly time series.

Strengths

• Provides high spatial resolution data at 13x12 km, which is finer than the standard OMAERO product.
• Uses a sophisticated multi-wavelength retrieval algorithm developed by KNMI scientists.
• Data files include ancillary geolocation information and are documented with algorithm descriptions and quality notes.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact license terms are missing from all sources.
• Temporal coverage is sparse, with only one day of zoomed data collected per month.
• The 'last updated' date of 2026-04-09 appears to be a future date, suggesting a potential metadata error.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), produced by the KNMI OMI Team.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura spacecraft.

Time Range

From March 2012 onward.

Freshness

Last updated date listed as 2026-04-09, but this appears anomalous.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits.