TES/Aura L2 Carbon Monoxide Lite Nadir V007: Satellite Atmospheric Profiles

NASA's Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer, launched July 15, 2004, collected this Level 2 data product containing retrieved vertical profiles of carbon monoxide concentration. Each global survey consisted of observations from 16 consecutive orbits, performing up to 4,608 individual atmospheric retrievals. The dataset includes estimated errors, geolocation, quality flags, and surface characteristics specifically for nadir-pointing observations.

Use Cases

• Tracking global transport of carbon monoxide pollution based on retrieved vertical concentration profiles.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry models using satellite-derived CO profiles and associated error estimates.
• Studying seasonal or long-term trends in tropospheric carbon monoxide from the time-series of global surveys.
• Analyzing surface characteristics and their correlation with near-surface carbon monoxide levels from nadir observations.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete for the TES instrument mission, providing a fixed temporal record.
• Each global survey provides a large sample, with up to 4,608 individual atmospheric retrievals.
• Includes estimated errors for the retrieved profiles, supporting uncertainty quantification.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts: 'last updated' dates are 2015-12-31 on NASA Earthdata and 2026-04-09 on Data.gov, suggesting inconsistent platform maintenance.
• Column names and detailed schema are not provided in any source, limiting immediate usability.
• Observation methodology changed on April 24, 2005, from two to three low-resolution scans per sequence, complicating time-series consistency.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via infrared spectroscopy and iterative radiative transfer modeling (retrieval).

Time Range

From launch (July 15, 2004) through the completion of TES data collection.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:25:35.742808

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits.