TROPESS CrIS-SNPP: Carbon Monoxide Vertical Profiles from Suomi-NPP Satellite

NASA's TROPESS project provides Level 2 satellite data on atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations. The dataset contains vertical profiles from the surface to 0.1 hPa, retrieved using the MUSES optimal estimation algorithm from the CrIS instrument on Suomi-NPP. It covers mid-latitude and tropical regions from 2015-11 02 to 2019-03-26, with daily files in netCDF4 format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global CO distribution and trends based on vertical profiles from 14 levels.
• Validating atmospheric chemistry and transport models using satellite-retrieved CO state and formal uncertainties.
• Studying pollution events and long-range transport in the mid-latitude and tropical band (60S-60N).
• Assessing carbon monoxide as a tropospheric ozone precursor for climate research.

Strengths

• Provides vertical distribution at 14 specific pressure levels from the surface to 0.1 hPa.
• Offers a focused time series of over three years (2015-11-02 to 2019-03-26) for trend analysis.
• Data is produced by NASA's TROPESS project using a documented optimal estimation algorithm (MUSES).
• Has a defined spatial resolution of 14 km at nadir for the CrIS instrument.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to the mid-latitude and tropical region (60S-60N), excluding polar areas.
• Column names and exact data structure are not provided in the available metadata.
• Platforms show conflicting 'last updated' dates (2019-03-26 vs. 2026-04-09), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), TROPESS project.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from the CrIS instrument on the Suomi-NPP platform, processed with the MUSES retrieval algorithm.

Time Range

2015-11-02 to 2019-03-26

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:36:14.642465

Geography

Mid-latitude and tropical region between 60°S and 60°N.