Sounder SIPS: Atmospheric State Profiles from Suomi NPP CrIMSS

CLIMCAPS V2 data from the Suomi NPP satellite's CrIS/ATMS instruments provides full atmospheric state profiles. The algorithm uses Optimal Estimation to retrieve surface properties and profiles of temperature, water vapor, ozone, and trace gases like carbon monoxide and methane from 1305 infrared and 22 microwave channels. A known bias exists in the 'co_mmr_midtrop' variable, requiring a correction factor of 28.01/44.01.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global carbon monoxide distribution using retrieved column density values ('mol_lay/co_mol_lay').
• Analyzing vertical profiles of temperature and water vapor for weather and climate model validation.
• Studying cloud top characteristics and their radiative impact based on infrared effective cloud retrievals.
• Tracking atmospheric composition changes for gases like methane, sulfur dioxide, and nitric acid.

Strengths

• Derives a comprehensive atmospheric state from a high-resolution sensor suite, with CrIS providing 1305 spectral channels.
• Employs a physically-based Optimal Estimation methodology for retrievals.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata signals established importance and curation.

Limitations

• Contains a significant, documented bias in the 'co_mmr_midtrop' variable requiring user correction.
• Key metadata like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Sounder SIPS at JPL.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from the Suomi NPP platform's CrIS (Cross-track Infrared Sounder) and ATMS (Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder) instruments, processed with the CLIMCAPS algorithm.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to Data.gov.

Geography

Global coverage from a polar-orbiting satellite.