OMHCHO: Satellite Total Column Formaldehyde Measurements

OMI/Aura Formaldehyde (HCHO) Total Column data provides Level-2 satellite measurements of formaldehyde concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere. The dataset contains total vertical column HCHO, associated standard errors, quality flags, and geolocation information for the sunlit portion of each orbit. It is produced by scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center and distributed by NASA GES DISC.

Use Cases

• Tracking formaldehyde pollution sources and transport based on total column concentration maps.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry models using satellite-derived HCHO column data.
• Studying seasonal and regional trends in VOC emissions using the time-series orbital data.
• Assessing air quality impacts from industrial or biogenic sources via the geolocated concentration fields.

Strengths

• Data originates from a well-established NASA satellite instrument (Aura OMI).
• Includes error estimates (rms and sigma) and quality flags for data validation.
• Provides high temporal resolution with approximately 14 orbits of data per day.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on file format (HDF-EOS5 vs. netCDF) and average file size (5 MB vs. 35 MB).
• Column-level metadata is unavailable, limiting detailed understanding of data structure.
• Dataset descriptions are repetitive and lack technical documentation on algorithm specifics.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI).

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to two platform entries.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits.