OML1BIRR: Aura OMI Daily Solar Irradiance Spectra

NASA's Aura satellite Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) provides daily averaged solar irradiance measurements across ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. The dataset contains radiometrically calibrated spectra from three specific bands: UV Band 1 (264-311 nm, 159 bins), UV Band 2 (307-383 nm, 559 bins), and VIS Band 3 (349-504 nm, 751 bins). Data is stored in netCDF 4 format and is typically generated once per day when the Sun is within the instrument's solar port field-of-view.

Use Cases

• Calibrating atmospheric retrieval algorithms based on the radiometrically calibrated UV and VIS irradiance measurements.
• Monitoring long-term solar spectral variability using the daily time-series of averaged irradiances.
• Validating solar irradiance models with empirical data from the three defined wavelength bands (264-504 nm).

Strengths

• Provides high spectral resolution with 1,469 total wavelength bins across three distinct bands.
• Data is radiometrically calibrated, supporting quantitative scientific analysis.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates established importance and accessibility.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed data structure are not provided in any source description.
• Metadata for size, row count, and license is inconsistent or missing across platforms.
• The temporal and spatial coverage of the dataset is not explicitly stated.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with lead algorithm scientist Quintus Kleipool from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

Collection Method

Collected by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard the Aura satellite.

Time Range

Daily generation is indicated, but the overall temporal coverage is not specified.

Freshness

2026-04-09 (from Data.gov)

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbit, but specific spatial details are not provided.