TEMPO: Cloud Pressure and Fraction Data for North America

North American cloud information at the TEMPO satellite's native spatial resolution of approximately 10 km². The Level 2 files contain effective cloud fraction and cloud optical centroid pressure derived from O2-O2 dimer observations, using GEOS-CF meteorology and GLER surface albedo. These provisional data were validated by the LARC_CLOUD organization on December 9, 2024.

Use Cases

• Analyzing cloud fraction distribution over North America based on the effective cloud fraction (ECF) derived from 466 nm reflectance.
• Studying cloud vertical structure based on the cloud optical centroid pressure (OCP) derived from O2-O2 slant column density.
• Validating atmospheric models using cloud retrievals that incorporate GEOS-CF meteorology and GLER surface albedo.
• Assessing data quality for individual observation granules using the included processing quality flags.

Strengths

• Data provides cloud information at a high native spatial resolution of approximately 10 km².
• Retrieval methodology incorporates specific models: Look Up Tables (LUTs), GEOS-CF meteorology, and GLER surface albedo.
• Files contain ancillary data and processing quality flags to support analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is marked as provisional, indicating it may be subject to future revision.
• Row count and total file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

nasa_earthdata

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the TEMPO instrument, with retrievals using Look Up Tables (LUTs) of reflectance and air mass factors.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not specified in the provided input.

Freshness

Last updated 2025-09-16 23:59:00; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Covers the TEMPO satellite's Field of Regard (FOR) over North America.