TES/Aura L2 CO2 Lite Nadir V007: Global Satellite Atmospheric Profiles

Global satellite observations from the TES instrument on NASA's Aura spacecraft provide retrieved atmospheric profiles of carbon dioxide. The Level 2 Lite Nadir product contains volume mixing ratios, temperature profiles, surface temperature, and diagnostic quantities like precision and vertical resolution for approximately 3,200 retrievals per two-day global survey cycle. Data is stored in an HDF-EOS swath format, with observations from up to 16 consecutive orbits.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global carbon dioxide distribution and trends based on retrieved Volume Mixing Ratio (VMR) profiles.
• Validating atmospheric transport models using geolocated, vertically resolved species and temperature data.
• Assessing retrieval algorithm performance by examining diagnostic quantities like total error and vertical resolution.
• Studying surface-atmosphere interactions using provided surface temperature and characteristics for nadir observations.

Strengths

• Provides vertically resolved atmospheric profiles with associated error estimates and diagnostic quantities.
• Offers global spatial coverage from a dedicated satellite instrument (TES/Aura) with a defined observation cycle.
• Contains a specific number of retrievals per cycle, with approximately 3,200 retrievals performed over a two-day global survey.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not provided in any source, hindering precise understanding of the file schema.
• Metadata conflicts exist: the 'last updated' date differs significantly between platforms (2015 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about data freshness.
• The dataset's temporal coverage is not explicitly stated, only an operational change date (April 24, 2005) is mentioned.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) on the Aura satellite.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via radiative transfer modeling and retrieval algorithms comparing observed to modeled spectra.

Time Range

null (Operational details mention a change on April 24, 2005, but start and end dates are not provided).

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:49:18.240235 (from datagov, but conflicts with a 2015 date from nasa_earthdata)

Geography

Global