TRPSYL2ALLCRSMGBEI: Beijing Megacity Atmospheric Gas Profiles

NASA's TROPESS CrIS-SNPP L2 summary product provides vertical profiles of six key atmospheric gases—methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen deuterium oxide (HDO), ammonia (NH3), ozone (O3), and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN)—over Beijing. Data is derived from the Suomi-NPP satellite's CrIS instrument using the MUSES optimal estimation algorithm, reported at 17 vertical levels from the surface to 0.1 hPa. Each daily netCDF file covers a 3x3 degree region centered on Beijing from 2016 to 2021.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical distribution of ozone and precursors to study urban atmospheric chemistry.
• Tracking methane and carbon monoxide concentrations over time to assess emission trends.
• Validating satellite retrievals and chemical transport models using formal uncertainty estimates.
• Investigating seasonal and interannual variability of ammonia and PAN in a polluted region.

Strengths

• Provides vertical profiles at 17 specific pressure levels, offering detailed atmospheric structure.
• Covers a multi-year time series from 2016-01-02 to 2021-05-21 for longitudinal analysis.
• Data has a defined spatial resolution of 14 km (CrIS nadir FOV) over a focused 3x3 degree region.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov indicates curation and importance.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row/size counts are not provided in any source, limiting precise data assessment.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.
• Data freshness is unclear; the last metadata update is listed but the core data ends in May 2021.

Provenance

Source

NASA TROPESS project, GES DISC, Principal Investigator Kevin W. Bowman.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the CrIS instrument on Suomi-NPP, processed with the MUSES optimal estimation algorithm.

Time Range

2016-01-02 to 2021-05-21

Freshness

Last metadata update recorded as 2026-04 09 21:22:28.972639 on two platforms.

Geography

A 3x3 degree region centered on Beijing, China.