OML1BRUG: Aura OMI UV Earth Radiance Swath Data

OMI/Aura Level 1B UV Global Geolocated Earthshine Radiances (OML1BRUG) Version-3 contains geo-located Earth view spectral radiances from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument's ultraviolet detectors. Data is collected in a global measurement mode, with each file covering the sunlit portion of an orbit (~53 minutes) and containing radiance measurements across 716 spectral channels from 264 to 383 nm. The dataset is stored in HDF-EOS format, with radiance values encoded as a 16-bit mantissa and an 8-bit exponent.

Use Cases

• Calibrating atmospheric retrieval algorithms using the high-resolution spectral radiance data.
• Monitoring global ozone distribution and UV radiation levels based on geo-located swath measurements.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of aerosols and trace gases from the 13x24 km nadir pixel observations.
• Studying instrument performance and signal precision using the mantissa-exponent data structure.

Strengths

• Provides high spectral resolution with 716 UV channels (264-383 nm) for detailed atmospheric profiling.
• Offers consistent global coverage with approximately 14 orbits per day, capturing the sunlit portion of Earth.
• Includes specialized monthly measurements: dark measurements for calibration and spatial zoom-in data with 13x12 km nadir resolution.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and dataset size are unspecified across all sources.
• Platforms disagree on license information: 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov versus 'None' on NASA Earthdata.
• Documentation gaps exist regarding specific data access methods and the exact temporal coverage of the archive.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Aura satellite Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Lead algorithm scientist: Dr. Marcel Dobber (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute - KNMI).

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the OMI instrument, processed to Level-1B (geo-located radiances).

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:18:11.642864

Geography

Global coverage from satellite swath observations.