OMI/Aura Daily Global Cloud Pressure and Fraction Data via Raman Scattering

Global satellite data provides effective cloud pressure and cloud fraction derived from the Rotational Raman Scattering method. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard NASA's Aura satellite, launched in 2004, collects this Level-2 product at a nadir pixel resolution of 13 x 24 km with near-daily global coverage. Each file contains data from the day-lit portion of one orbit, with approximately 14 orbits per day.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the spatial distribution of cloud fraction and pressure to study cloud-climate interactions.
• Validating and improving climate models using satellite-derived cloud parameters like effective cloud pressure.
• Investigating atmospheric dynamics by correlating cloud data with ancillary parameters such as solar and satellite viewing angles.
• Assessing data quality for specific regions or time periods using the provided quality flags.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a specific, well-defined algorithm (Rotational Raman Scattering in the 392-398 nm range).
• Provides near-daily global coverage due to OMI's 2600 km viewing swath width.
• Includes ancillary data such as terrain information, geolocation, and quality flags for validation.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on license information, with one specifying 'other-license-specified' and another listing 'None'.
• The reprocessed data was made available in April 2012, but the instrument's operational time range is not fully specified.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), with algorithm lead by NASA OMI scientist Dr. Joanna Joiner.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the EOS-Aura spacecraft, processed to Level-2.

Time Range

Data collection began after the Aura satellite launch on July 15, 2004; specific end date not provided.

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:45:54.619402

Geography

Global coverage.