SNDRAQIL3CDCCP: Daily Global Atmospheric Profiles from AIRS

CLIMCAPS algorithm data from the AIRS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite provides daily global profiles of temperature, water vapor, and trace gases like carbon monoxide and methane. The temperature profile has a vertical resolution of 100 levels between 1100 mb and 0.1 mb, with a horizontal resolution of 50 km. This Level 3 product is gridded at a one-degree latitude by one-degree longitude resolution.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global carbon monoxide pollution transport using retrieved column density profiles.
• Analyzing vertical temperature structure for weather and climate studies based on 100-level profiles.
• Studying cloud properties and their radiative effects using infrared effective cloud top characteristics.
• Investigating atmospheric composition, including sulfur dioxide and nitric acid, for air quality research.

Strengths

• Provides a multi-parameter atmospheric state from a single satellite instrument, including surface properties and full atmospheric profiles.
• Offers high vertical resolution for temperature (100 levels) and specific pressure ranges for moisture (1100 mb to 300 mb).
• Data is produced by a NASA mission (EOS Aqua) and algorithm (CLIMCAPS) with documented contact for scientific support.

Limitations

• A significant, documented bias exists in the 'co_mmr_midtrop' variable due to an incorrect molecular weight conversion, requiring user correction.
• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, and precise data volume are unavailable across all sources.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms provided in the input.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC)

Collection Method

Retrievals from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS Aqua satellite, processed with the CLIMCAPS Optimal Estimation algorithm.

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:56:21.094696

Geography

Global