TEMPO Gridded Cloud Fraction and Pressure Data (Provisional)

Provisional validation was reached on December 9, 2024. This dataset provides Level 3 gridded cloud information derived from TEMPO satellite observations, covering its field of regard. It contains data on effective cloud fraction and cloud optical centroid pressure, generated using an area-weighted re-gridding algorithm from Level 2 scan cycles.

Use Cases

• Modeling atmospheric radiative transfer based on effective cloud fraction data.
• Analyzing regional cloud cover patterns based on the gridded satellite observations.
• Validating climate models using cloud optical centroid pressure measurements.
• Studying diurnal or seasonal cloud variability within the TEMPO field of regard.

Strengths

• Data reached provisional validation on December 9, 2024.
• Derived from Level 2 satellite scans using an area-weighted re-gridding algorithm.
• Files are provided in netCDF4 format, a standard for scientific data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is marked as provisional; users should verify validation status.

Provenance

Source

LARC_CLOUD via nasa_earthdata

Collection Method

Derived by combining information from all Level 2 files constituting a TEMPO East-West scan cycle.

Time Range

Temporal coverage is implied by the TEMPO observation period but not explicitly stated.

Freshness

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

Geography

Covers the TEMPO satellite field of regard, likely focused on the Americas.