TES/Aura L2 Carbonyl Sulfide Nadir Special Observation V008

Global atmospheric data from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) aboard NASA's Aura satellite, launched July 15, 2004. This Level 2 product contains retrieved profiles of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) and atmospheric temperatures from nadir special observations, including estimated errors, geolocation, and quality flags. The data is generated by comparing observed infrared spectra to modeled spectra through an iterative radiative transfer retrieval process.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global carbonyl sulfide (OCS) distributions based on retrieved volume mixing ratio (VMR) profiles.
• Studying atmospheric temperature structure from limb observations using the retrieved temperature profiles.
• Validating radiative transfer and chemical transport models with the provided geolocated species profiles and estimated errors.
• Investigating changes in observation strategy by comparing pre- and post-April 24, 2005 scan sequences described in the metadata.

Strengths

• Data originates from a well-documented NASA satellite instrument (TES/Aura) with a known launch date of July 15, 2004.
• The retrieval process is explicitly described, involving iterative comparison of observed and modeled spectra to update atmospheric parameters.
• Product structure is detailed, specifying separate files for nadir and limb observations and ancillary common data.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing or conflicting: column names, row counts, and dataset size are unknown across all platforms.
• License information is inconsistent ('other-license-specified' vs. 'None'), and the authoritative author/organization is unclear.
• The last updated date conflicts between sources (2026-04-09 vs. 2018-01 22), raising questions about metadata freshness and maintenance.

Provenance

Source

NASA Aura satellite, Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via infrared spectrometry, with Level 2 processing involving radiative transfer modeling and retrieval algorithms.

Time Range

Data collection is complete; specific operational dates are not provided beyond the launch date and a procedural change date of April 24, 2005.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:48:58.699331

Geography

Global, from satellite orbits.