SNDRAQIML3CMCCP: Monthly Global Atmospheric Profiles from AIRS/AMSU

Global monthly gridded data provides atmospheric state profiles retrieved from the AIRS and AMSU instruments aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The dataset includes over 100 vertical levels of temperature, water vapor, ozone, and trace gases like carbon monoxide and methane, with a horizontal resolution of 50 km. It is generated using the CLIMCAPS Optimal Estimation algorithm with comprehensive quality control to ensure consistency from the surface to 0.1 mb.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles for climate trend analysis.
• Analyzing tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide distributions for air quality studies.
• Validating climate and weather model outputs against satellite-retrieved atmospheric state data.
• Investigating cloud top properties and their radiative effects on the climate system.

Strengths

• High vertical resolution with 100 levels for temperature profiles between 1100 mb and 0.1 mb.
• Applies a documented comprehensive quality control (QC) methodology to ensure retrieval consistency.
• Derived from a well-established satellite instrument system (AIRS/AMSU on EOS Aqua) with a documented algorithm (CLIMCAPS).

Limitations

• A significant known bias exists in the 'co_mmr_midtrop' variable due to a molecular weight conversion error.
• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided in the sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-04-09 vs 2016-10-01) create uncertainty about data freshness.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from the AIRS and AMSU instruments on the EOS Aqua platform, processed with the CLIMCAPS Optimal Estimation retrieval algorithm.

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 2026-04-09 (datagov) and 2016-10-01 (nasa_earthdata).

Geography

Global coverage.