TL3H2OD_6: Global Daily Water Vapor Grids from TES/Aura Satellite

TES/Aura L3 Water Vapor Daily Gridded V006 provides global 3-D atmospheric profiles of water vapor volume mixing ratio and temperature. Data are interpolated onto a 2° latitude by 4° longitude grid at standard pressure levels from Level 2 profiles collected during approximately 26-hour Global Survey orbits. The dataset, produced from the completed TES instrument mission aboard the Aura satellite launched July 15, 2004, supports analysis of tropospheric humidity distribution and variability.

Use Cases

• Mapping global tropospheric water vapor distribution based on gridded volume mixing ratio data.
• Analyzing daily atmospheric temperature profiles at standard pressure levels from satellite retrievals.
• Comparing limb and nadir observation modes for atmospheric column studies.
• Investigating interannual variability in atmospheric humidity using a multi-year satellite record.
• Validating climate model outputs against observed global water vapor grids.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent global 3-D grid (2°x4°) from a dedicated satellite instrument with a defined mission period.
• Contains data from two distinct observation geometries (limb and nadir), allowing for different atmospheric sampling.
• Represents processed Level 3 data, interpolated from Level 2 profiles for standardized analysis.
• Dataset is hosted on multiple authoritative platforms (NASA Earthdata, Data.gov), indicating recognized importance.

Limitations

• Specific column names and data granularity (row count, file size) are not provided in any source, limiting precise technical assessment.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata (2026-04 09 vs. 2018-01-22) creates uncertainty about recent maintenance.
• Data collection is complete, so the temporal coverage is fixed and not being extended.

Provenance

Source

NASA Aura satellite Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via limb and nadir observations, processed from Level 2 to gridded Level 3 products.

Time Range

From mission start after launch on July 15, 2004, until data collection was completed.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:42:41.862034 (most recent date cited, though potentially anomalous)

Geography

Global coverage on a 2-degree latitude by 4-degree longitude grid.