TROPESS AIRS-Aqua: Global Deuterated Water Vapor Profiles

NASA's TROPESS project provides a 17-year global record of deuterated water vapor (HDO) profiles, retrieved using the MUSES optimal estimation algorithm from the AIRS instrument on the Aqua satellite. Each daily netCDF file contains vertical distributions from the surface to 0.1 hPa at a spatial resolution of 13.5 km, along with formal uncertainties. This dataset supports research into atmospheric water cycles and climate processes by distinguishing isotopologues.

Use Cases

• Tracking atmospheric water transport pathways based on deuterium isotope ratios.
• Validating and improving global climate reanalysis models using vertical profile data.
• Investigating stratosphere-troposphere exchange processes using measurements up to 0.1 hPa.
• Assessing long-term changes in the atmospheric water cycle from the 2002-2020 time series.

Strengths

• Provides a long-term, global time series from September 2002 to March 2020.
• Offers high vertical resolution with profiles reported at 17 discrete levels.
• Includes formal uncertainty estimates for each retrieved atmospheric state.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not provided in the metadata.
• The dataset's temporal coverage ends in March 2020 and may not be updated.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between sources (2026 vs. 2020).

Provenance

Source

NASA TROPESS project, Principal Investigator Kevin W. Bowman, GES_DISC.

Collection Method

Retrieved via optimal estimation algorithm (MUSES) from the AIRS instrument on the EOS Aqua satellite.

Time Range

2002-09-01 to 2020-03-31

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:39:03.532508

Geography

Global