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Full catalog/AIRS3SPD
AIRS3SPD·v006·dataset

Daily helper data for the air sounder (AIRS, Aqua, 1 deg)

AIRS/Aqua L3 Daily Support Product (AIRS-only) 1 degree x 1 degree V006 (AIRS3SPD) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 3 active
In plain English

What it measures. Daily worldwide readings of the atmosphere from the AIRS instrument, gathered onto a 1-degree grid. This is a 'support' version that holds extra background and intermediate values rather than the polished final numbers, and some of those values come from readings that didn't fully pass quality checks.

How it's made. Built from the AIRS infrared sounder aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, processed into a daily gridded summary that sits alongside the fully validated standard product.

How & where you'd use it. Mainly a behind-the-scenes resource for atmospheric scientists who need the raw inputs and intermediate steps; most people are better served by the validated standard AIRS products.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ALTITUDE › TROPOPAUSEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › SURFACE PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › UPPER AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › WATER VAPORATMOSPHERE › 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 › EMISSIVITYOCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURELAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIES › SKIN TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › AIR QUALITY › CARBON MONOXIDE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-08-31 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (AIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • 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. The L3 support products are similar to the L3 standard products but contain fields which are not fully validated, or are inputs or intermediary values. Because no quality control information is available for some of these fields, values from failed retrievals may be included.

Get the data

airs3spd_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AIRS3SPD",
    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.