OMPS-N20: Global Formaldehyde Total Column from Satellite

NOAA-20 satellite measurements provide global formaldehyde total column data derived from ultraviolet radiances between 328.5 and 356.5 nm. Each daily granule contains data from about 14.5 orbits, with a swath width of 2800 km and pixel footprints that changed from 17x17 km to 12x17 km after February 13, 2019. The dataset is stored in netCDF4 format and offers global spatial coverage from -90 to 90 degrees latitude.

Use Cases

• Tracking global formaldehyde pollution sources and transport based on daily orbital swaths.
• Analyzing seasonal and interannual trends in atmospheric chemistry using time-series orbital data.
• Validating regional air quality models with spatially explicit total column measurements.
• Studying changes in instrument resolution and footprint size after the February 2019 orbital transition.

Strengths

• Provides global daily coverage with about 14.5 orbits per day.
• Offers specific spatial resolution details: footprint size changed from 17x17 km to 12x17 km after orbit 6419.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA EarthData and Data.gov indicates established use and importance.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed schema are not provided in any source description.
• Row counts, dataset size, and specific license terms are not specified.
• One source lists an update date of 2026-04-09, which is a future date and may indicate a metadata error.

Provenance

Source

GES_DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the OMPS Nadir-Mapper instrument on the NOAA-20 (JPSS-1) satellite.

Time Range

Data collection began with the NOAA-20 satellite; specific start date not provided.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:27:42.358490

Geography

Global coverage from -90 to 90 degrees latitude.