TROPESS CrIS-SNPP: Deuterated Water Vapor During Australian Fires

From November 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020, this dataset provides the vertical distribution of semi-heavy water (HDO) in the atmosphere over Australia, measured by the CrIS instrument on the Suomi-NPP satellite. It contains retrieved atmospheric states, formal uncertainties, and diagnostic information at 17 vertical levels from the surface to 0.1 hPa. The data is processed using the MUSES optimal estimation algorithm by the NASA TROPESS project.

Use Cases

• Analyzing isotopic water vapor signatures (HDO/H2O) to study atmospheric transport and evaporation during the 2019-2020 Australian wildfire season.
• Investigating vertical profiles of deuterated water vapor across 17 pressure levels from the surface to 0.1 hPa.
• Assessing formal retrieval uncertainties provided alongside the atmospheric state data for quality control.
• Studying regional atmospheric chemistry over Australia (60S-0S; 100E-177.5E) with data at a 14 km spatial resolution.

Strengths

• Provides data for a specific, high-impact event: the 2019-2020 Australian wildfire season.
• Offers high vertical resolution with profiles reported at 17 distinct pressure levels.
• Includes formal uncertainty estimates for each retrieval, supporting quantitative analysis.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and exact file sizes are unknown across all sources.
• The temporal coverage is limited to a three-month window (Nov 2019 - Jan 2020).
• Sources disagree on the 'last updated' date (2026-04-09 vs. 2020-01-31), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

NASA TROPESS project, GES DISC, CrIS instrument on Suomi-NPP satellite.

Collection Method

Retrieved via optimal estimation algorithm (MUSES) from satellite remote sensing.

Time Range

2019-11-01 to 2020-01-31

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:22:25.186659

Geography

Australia region (60S-0S; 100E-177.5E)