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

NASA's TES instrument aboard the Aura satellite, launched July 15, 2004, collected this Level 2 data product. It contains retrieved atmospheric profiles for deuterium oxide, including volume mixing ratios, temperature, surface temperature, and diagnostic quantities across predefined pressure levels. Data collection is complete, with global surveys covering up to 16 consecutive orbits and performing 4,608 retrievals.

Use Cases

• Modeling atmospheric deuterium oxide distribution based on retrieved volume mixing ratio profiles.
• Analyzing vertical temperature structure based on the retrieved temperature profiles and associated pressure levels.
• Studying surface temperature variations from nadir observations that point directly at the Earth.
• Assessing retrieval quality and error estimates based on the provided precision and total error diagnostics.

Strengths

• Data originates from NASA's Aura satellite instrument, launched on July 15, 2004.
• Retrieval process compared observed spectra to modeled spectra using radiative transfer algorithms.
• Global surveys consisted of a maximum of 16 consecutive orbits, performing 4,608 retrievals.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data collection is complete; the dataset may not reflect recent atmospheric conditions.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) aboard the Aura spacecraft.

Time Range

Data collection active from launch (July 15, 2004) until mission completion.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:24:56.964236; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global, from satellite orbits.