OMPS-NPP NM NO2: Satellite-Measured Nitrogen Dioxide Columns

OMPS-NPP L2 NM NO2 data provides global measurements of nitrogen dioxide total and tropospheric columns from the Suomi-NPP satellite. Each orbital granule contains about 50 minutes of daylight data with a 2600 km swath width and 50 km pixel resolution at nadir. The dataset uses a direct vertical column fitting algorithm and a spatial technique to separate stratospheric and tropospheric amounts.

Use Cases

• Monitoring regional air pollution trends based on tropospheric NO2 column retrievals.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry models using global, orbital swath data.
• Analyzing NO2 spatial distribution and sources from 50 km resolution cross-track pixels.
• Studying stratosphere-troposphere exchange processes using separated column amounts.

Strengths

• Provides separated stratospheric and tropospheric NO2 columns using a specific spatial technique.
• Offers global spatial coverage from -90 to 90 degrees latitude with approximately 14 orbits per day.
• Data is structured in HDF5 files, a standard for scientific data exchange.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed schema are not provided in any source description.
• Metadata conflicts: license is listed as 'other-license-specified' on some platforms but 'None' on others.
• Dataset size and row counts are unknown, limiting assessment of data volume.

Provenance

Source

GES_DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center)

Collection Method

Retrieved from the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) Nadir-Mapper sensor on the Suomi-NPP satellite using a direct vertical column fitting algorithm.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:27:01.148197

Geography

Global (-90 to 90 degrees latitude)