OMPS-NPP: Global Cloud Pressure and Fraction from Suomi-NPP Satellite

14.5 orbits per day from the Suomi-NPP satellite's OMPS Nadir-Mapper instrument provide global retrievals of effective cloud fraction and optical centroid pressure at 354.1 nm. The data, stored in HDF5 files, offers a vertical resolution of approximately 1.8 km for profiles measured from the ground up to 80 km. Each orbital granule covers the daylight portion with a cross-track spacing of about 250 km between three limb profiles.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global cloud fraction distribution based on the Mixed Lambert Equivalent Reflectivity (MLER) retrieval.
• Studying cloud top pressure (optical centroid pressure) for atmospheric dynamics and climate feedbacks.
• Validating and improving radiative transfer models using satellite-derived cloud optical properties.
• Investigating diurnal cloud variability from the approximately 14.5 daily orbital swaths.

Strengths

• Provides global spatial coverage from -90 to 90 degrees latitude.
• Offers high vertical resolution of approximately 1.8 km for atmospheric profiles up to 80 km.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals established importance and curation.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed data structure are not provided in any source description.
• Metadata for size, row count, and author is consistently missing or listed as 'unknown' across platforms.
• The 'last updated' date of 2026-04-09 appears to be a future date, indicating potential metadata error.

Provenance

Source

GES_DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) Nadir-Mapper on the Suomi-NPP spacecraft.

Time Range

Data granules contain measurements for a full day.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:16:08.395934

Geography

Global (-90 to 90 degrees latitude)