TES/Aura L2: Ozone and Carbon Dioxide Atmospheric Profiles

TL2O3LS_6 and TL2CO2NS_8 are Level 2 data products from NASA's Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer aboard the Aura satellite. They contain retrieved vertical profiles of ozone (from limb observations) and carbon dioxide (from nadir observations), including estimated errors, geolocation, and quality data. The data were generated by comparing observed spectra to modeled spectra using radiative transfer algorithms to iteratively update atmospheric parameters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical ozone concentration profiles based on limb observation retrieval algorithms.
• Studying global carbon dioxide distributions from nadir observation surface characteristics.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry models using retrieved species profiles and estimated errors.
• Investigating changes in observation protocols by comparing pre- and post-April 24, 2005 scan sequences.

Strengths

• Data originates from a NASA satellite instrument with a known launch date of July 15, 2004.
• Provides vertical profiling information for key atmospheric species (O3, CO2) with estimated errors.
• Cross-platform presence on datagov and nasa_earthdata signals established importance and curation.

Limitations

• Critical metadata like row counts, column names, and exact file sizes are unavailable from all sources.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (2006 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Documentation is incomplete, with column details and specific data formats (beyond HDF-EOS) not provided.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) on the Aura satellite.

Time Range

Data collection started after launch on July 15, 2004, and is now complete. Specific operational period not provided.

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:39:56.629585 (from datagov, but conflicts with older nasa_earthdata date)

Geography

Global, from satellite orbits.