TES/Aura L3: Monthly Atmospheric Temperature Grids

TL3ATM_6 provides monthly gridded atmospheric temperature and volume mixing ratio data from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer aboard NASA's Aura satellite. The Level 3 product interpolates Level 2 limb profiles onto a global 2° latitude by 4° longitude grid at standard pressure levels to create a 3-D representation. Data collection is complete, with products available as daily and monthly averages in HDF-EOS format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global atmospheric temperature distributions based on gridded limb observations.
• Studying trace gas volume mixing ratios across pressure levels and latitudes.
• Validating climate models with satellite-derived 3-D atmospheric profiles.
• Investigating long-term atmospheric composition changes using monthly averaged data.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a standardized global grid (2° lat x 4° lon), facilitating spatial analysis.
• Provides a 3-D representation of the atmosphere across multiple pressure levels.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates established use and curation.

Limitations

• Specific column names and dataset size (rows, file size) are not provided in any source.
• Metadata freshness conflicts: one source shows a last update in 2026 (likely a placeholder), while another shows 2018.
• Documentation is technical but lacks concrete examples of data access or granular temporal coverage.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on the Aura spacecraft, with data processed through the Level 3 Science Data Processing subsystem.

Time Range

Coverage spans the TES operational period post-launch (July 15, 2004) until data collection was completed. Specific start and end years are not provided.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:25:01.565855 (Note: This future date from Data.gov is likely a system placeholder; a more plausible date is 2018-01-31 from NASA EarthData.)

Geography

Global coverage.