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Full catalog/AIRSAC3MNH3
AIRSAC3MNH3·v3·dataset

Ammonia gas in the air, monthly (Aqua)

Atmospheric Composition Ammonia Volume Mixing Ratio L3 (AIRSAC3MNH3 V3) from AIRS/AMSU on NASA Aqua at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 3
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly global measurements of ammonia gas in the atmosphere, a key part of the nitrogen cycle that comes largely from farming and contributes to fine particle pollution.

How it's made. Derived from the AIRS/AMSU instruments on NASA's Aqua satellite, processed into monthly gridded ammonia amounts covering September 2002 through August 2016.

How & where you'd use it. Provides a global view of atmospheric ammonia where ground measurements are scarce, useful for studying air quality, pollution particles, and the nitrogen cycle.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › NITROGEN COMPOUNDS › AMMONIA

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-09-01 → 2016-08-31
  • Measured byAqua (AIRS, AMSU-A)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • StatusCOMPLETE

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 mass concentration ammonia in the atmosphere, consists of products generated for the study of atmospheric ammonia. Atmospheric ammonia is an important component of the global nitrogen cycle. In the troposphere, ammonia reacts rapidly with acids such as sulfuric and nitric to form fine particulate matter. These ammonium containing aerosols affect Earth's radiative balance, both directly by scattering incoming radiation and indirectly as cloud condensation nuclei. Major sources of atmospheric ammonia involve agricultural activities including animal husbandry, especially concentrated animal feeding operations and fertilizer use. Major sinks of atmospheric ammonia involve dry deposition and wet removal by precipitation, as well as conversion to particulate ammonium by reaction with acids. Measurements of ambient NH3 are sparse, but satellites provide a means to monitor atmospheric composition globally. Using the AIRS/AMSU satellite this algorithm provides monthly measurements of derived atmospheric NH3 for September 2002 through August 2016.

Get the data

airsac3mnh3_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AIRSAC3MNH3",
    version="3",
    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.