OMPS-N21: Limb-Profiler Radiance from the Ground to 80 km

OMPS-N21's Limb-Profiler sensor captures calibrated radiance profiles from the ground up to about 80 km with a vertical resolution of 1-2 km. Each day's data includes about 14.5 orbits, with each orbit measuring three limb profiles spaced approximately 250 km apart for global coverage. The sensor measures across a broad spectral range from 280 nm to 1000 nm, covering ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths.

Use Cases

• Monitoring stratospheric ozone recovery based on high-vertical-resolution limb radiance profiles.
• Studying the vertical distribution of aerosols and clouds from the troposphere to the mesosphere.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry models using global, daily limb-scanning observations.
• Analyzing cross-track variability in atmospheric composition using the three-slit measurement geometry.

Strengths

• Provides high vertical resolution atmospheric profiles of approximately 1-2 km.
• Offers daily global spatial coverage from -90 to 90 degrees latitude.
• Measures across a wide spectral range (280-1000 nm) for multi-wavelength analysis.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is inconsistent across platforms, with missing column definitions and conflicting license information.
• Data is limited to the daylight portion of each orbit, creating temporal gaps in coverage.
• The cross-track sampling is sparse, with only three profiles per orbit spaced ~250 km apart.

Provenance

Source

GES_DISC

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the OMPS Limb-Profiler sensor on the NOAA 21 (JPSS-2) satellite.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:16:52.758817

Geography

Global (-90 to 90 degrees latitude)