TES/Aura L2 Deuterium Oxide Lite Nadir V007: Atmospheric Profiles

TL2HDOLN_7 contains retrieved profiles of deuterium oxide (heavy water) and other atmospheric parameters from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer aboard NASA's Aura satellite. Each global survey consists of observations along 16 consecutive orbits, performing up to 3,200 retrievals of species volume mixing ratios, temperature profiles, and surface temperature. The retrieval process compares observed spectra to modeled spectra to iteratively update atmospheric parameters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing deuterium oxide (D2O) distribution in the troposphere based on retrieved species profiles.
• Studying atmospheric temperature and surface temperature trends from nadir observation retrievals.
• Evaluating vertical resolution and total column density of atmospheric constituents from diagnostic quantities.
• Mapping global survey observations across 16 consecutive orbits for spatial analysis.
• Comparing retrieval algorithms and error estimates from modeled versus observed spectra.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete, providing a finalized record from the TES instrument.
• Each global survey performs up to 3,200 retrievals, offering a substantial number of atmospheric profiles.
• The retrieval process uses radiative transfer modeling, a sophisticated method for deriving atmospheric parameters.

Limitations

• Explicit column names and dataset size (rows, file size) are not provided in any source.
• Sources disagree on the 'last updated' date (2026-04-09 vs. 2015-12-31), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.
• The license is ambiguously specified as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.

Provenance

Source

NASA Aura satellite Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via nadir observations, with data processed through radiative transfer modeling and retrieval algorithms.

Time Range

From launch on July 15, 2004, until data collection completion. Observations changed from two to three low-resolution scans per orbit after April 24, 2005.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:43:48.291720

Geography

Global, from nadir observations during satellite orbits.