TEMPO Satellite Cloud Pressure and Fraction Data (Provisional)

Provisional validation was reached on December 9, 2024. This dataset provides cloud information at the native spatial resolution of the TEMPO satellite instrument, approximately 10 km^2 at the center of its field of regard. It contains Level 2 data on effective cloud fraction and cloud optical centroid pressure, derived from O2-O2 dimer observations and ancillary meteorology and surface albedo data.

Use Cases

• Modeling cloud radiative effects based on cloud optical centroid pressure (OCP) and effective cloud fraction (ECF).
• Validating atmospheric models using satellite-derived cloud data and GEOS-CF meteorology.
• Analyzing regional cloud cover variability over North America from the TEMPO field of regard.
• Studying surface-atmosphere interactions using cloud retrievals informed by GLER surface albedo.

Strengths

• Data is at TEMPO's native spatial resolution, approximately 10 km^2 at the center of its field of regard.
• Cloud retrievals use ancillary data from GEOS-CF meteorology and GLER surface albedo.
• Provisional validation status was confirmed on a specific date: December 9, 2024.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is provisional and may be subject to revision.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata (LARC_CLOUD)

Collection Method

Satellite retrieval from TEMPO instrument using Look Up Tables (LUTs) of reflectance and air mass factors.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is not specified in the provided input.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Covers the North-South field of regard of the TEMPO satellite, which observes North America.