S5P_L2__CH4____HiR: Sentinel-5P High-Resolution Methane Measurements

Sentinel-5P satellite data provides methane (CH4) concentration measurements from August 6, 2019, onward at a high spatial resolution of approximately 5.5 km at nadir. The retrieval algorithm uses a physics-based method across the Oxygen-A band and shortwave infrared spectrum, incorporating cloud filtering from VIIRS and FRESCO data. This dataset is part of the European Space Agency's Atmospheric Composition Sentinel mission, focusing on land-only pixels while excluding mountainous areas.

Use Cases

• Monitoring regional methane emissions and trends based on high-resolution (~5.5 km) satellite observations.
• Validating ground-based or model-derived methane estimates using the physics-based retrieval algorithm.
• Studying atmospheric composition and greenhouse gas distribution from land-only pixel data.
• Assessing cloud-filtering performance in remote sensing by analyzing the use of VIIRS and FRESCO data.

Strengths

• Provides high spatial resolution methane data (~5.5 km at nadir) from a dedicated atmospheric monitoring satellite.
• Uses a sophisticated, physics-based retrieval algorithm incorporating multiple gas species and aerosol properties.
• Implements rigorous cloud filtering using VIIRS and FRESCO data to improve data quality.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and file sizes are unknown across all sources.
• Spatial coverage is limited to land-only pixels, explicitly excluding mountainous areas.
• Data availability is split, with a different collection (S5P_L2__CH4____1) required for measurements before August 6, 2019.

Provenance

Source

European Space Agency (ESA) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands via the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P) mission, hosted by NASA GES DISC.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), a nadir-viewing hyperspectral spectrometer.

Time Range

From August 6, 2019, onward.

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:26:28.365584

Geography

Global land coverage (excluding mountainous areas).