OMPS/NPP: Daily Global Sulfur Dioxide Satellite Measurements

Daily measurements from 2012 onward provide global coverage of atmospheric sulfur dioxide (SO2) columns. Data are collected by the OMPS Nadir-Mapper sensor on the Suomi-NPP satellite and processed using a principal component analysis (PCA) spectral fitting algorithm. The product is gridded at a 0.25 x 0.25 degree resolution using a 'best pixel' method for the daylight portion of each orbit.

Use Cases

• Tracking volcanic SO2 plume dispersion based on daily global satellite observations.
• Monitoring regional industrial pollution sources using the 0.25-degree gridded concentration data.
• Analyzing long-term trends in atmospheric SO2 burdens from the time-series of daily measurements.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry models with satellite-derived total column SO2 amounts.

Strengths

• Data is produced by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center using a peer-reviewed algorithm (Li et al., 2013, 2017).
• Provides consistent, daily global coverage from the Suomi-NPP satellite platform.
• The dataset's presence on multiple authoritative platforms (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata) signals its importance and reliability.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as exact row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.
• Data is limited to daylight orbital segments, missing nocturnal measurements.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) Nadir-Mapper sensor on the Suomi-NPP satellite.

Time Range

The Suomi-NPP satellite launched in 2011, suggesting data is likely available from 2012 onward, though an explicit range is not provided.

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-04-09, though this may reflect administrative updates rather than data currency.

Geography

Global coverage from -90 to 90 degrees latitude.