CLIMCAPS: Atmospheric Profiles from Suomi-NPP Satellite Sounding

CLIMCAPS V2.1 algorithm processes data from the Suomi-NPP satellite's CrIS/ATMS instruments to produce fixed Pressure Level (PLEV) atmospheric profiles. The dataset includes gas mixing ratios, column totals, surface values, tropopause properties, and relative humidity with per-field quality flags. Data is organized into 6-minute granules, with 240 produced daily, but has a latency of 3 to 7 weeks due to reliance on MERRA-2 reanalysis.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity for weather model validation.
• Monitoring tropospheric ozone and other trace gas concentrations for air quality studies.
• Calculating total precipitable water and cloud properties for climate trend analysis.
• Studying tropopause height and properties for atmospheric dynamics research.

Strengths

• Provides vertically resolved atmospheric data at standard pressure levels, derived from a coupled infrared and microwave sounding system.
• Includes per-field quality flagging for reliability assessment of each retrieved variable.
• Offers global coverage with a high temporal resolution of 240 granules per day from the Suomi-NPP satellite.

Limitations

• Data latency is significant, ranging from 3 to 7 weeks due to dependency on the MERRA-2 reanalysis product.
• Specific column names and the total row count are not provided in the available metadata.
• The license is listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit details, requiring further investigation for use.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from the CLIMCAPS algorithm processing Normal Spectral Resolution data from the Suomi-NPP satellite's CrIS/ATMS instruments.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to datagov.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits.