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Full catalog/AIRS2SUP
AIRS2SUP·v006·dataset

Quick atmosphere readings, support data (Aqua AIRS)

AIRS/Aqua L2 Support Retrieval (AIRS-only) V006 (AIRS2SUP) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Offers higher-detail versions of standard atmospheric readings plus extra research outputs, including finely layered profiles of temperature and humidity and amounts of trace gases.

How it's made. Derived from the AIRS infrared sounder on the Aqua satellite (infrared-only, after a microwave channel degraded), with 100 vertical levels and detailed quality information.

How & where you'd use it. Aimed at researchers and the algorithm team who need fine-grained profiles or research products; not a general-purpose product for casual users.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › AIR QUALITY › CARBON MONOXIDEATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD FRACTIONATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD HEIGHTATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD TOP PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD TOP TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD VERTICAL DISTRIBUTIONLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › EMISSIVITYATMOSPHERE › ALTITUDE › GEOPOTENTIAL HEIGHTATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS › METHANEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › OUTGOING LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC OZONEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATEROCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-08-30 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (AIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a grating spectrometer (R = 1200) aboard the second Earth Observing System (EOS) polar-orbiting platform, EOS Aqua. In combination with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB), AIRS constitutes an innovative atmospheric sounding group of visible, infrared, and microwave sensors. This product is similar to AIRX2SUP. It is a new product produced using AIRS IR only because the radiometric noise in AMSU channel 4 started to increase significantly (since June 2007). The Support Product includes higher vertical resolution profiles of the quantities found in the Standard Product, plus intermediate outputs (e.g., microwave-only retrieval), research products such as the abundance of trace gases, and detailed quality assessment information. The Support Product profiles contain 100 levels between 1100 and .016 mb; this higher resolution simplifies the generation of radiances using forward models, though the vertical information content is no greater than that in the Standard Product profiles. The intended users of the Support Product are researchers interested in generating forward radiance or in examining research products, and the AIRS algorithm development team. The Support Product is generated at all locations as Standard Products. An AIRS granule has been set as 6 minutes of data, 30 footprints cross track by 45 lines along track. There are 240 granules per day, with an orbit repeat cycle of approximately 16 day.

Get the data

airs2sup_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AIRS2SUP",
    version="006",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from GES_DISC
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.