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Full catalog/g3bssp
g3bssp·v6·dataset

Gases high in the air, measured by sunlight (SAGE III)

SAGE III/ISS L2 Solar Event Species Profiles (HDF5) V006
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2 active HDF5
In plain English

What it measures. Vertical profiles of gases and particles high in the atmosphere for a single sunrise or sunset event, including ozone, water vapor, aerosols, nitrogen compounds and temperature.

How it's made. Measured by the SAGE III instrument mounted outside the International Space Station, which watches sunlight pass through the atmosphere's edge (a technique called occultation).

How & where you'd use it. Used to monitor long-term changes in the upper atmosphere; this record has historically informed international assessments of ozone-layer depletion.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › ULTRAVIOLET RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › SHORTWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLSATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL EXTINCTIONATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › DUST/ASH/SMOKEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRYATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › NITROGEN COMPOUNDSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › NITROGEN COMPOUNDS › NITROGEN DIOXIDEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIESATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2017-06-07 → ongoing
  • Measured byISS (SAGE III)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF5
  • 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

g3bssp_6 is the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) on the International Space Station (ISS) (SAGE III/ISS) Level 2 Solar Event Species Profiles (HDF5) V06 data product. It contains all the species products for a single solar event. SAGE III was Launched on February 19, 2017 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center, SAGE III-ISS is the second instrument from the SAGE III project, externally mounted on the ISS. This ISS-based instrument uses a technique known as occultation, which involves looking at the light from the Sun or Moon as it passes through Earth's atmosphere at the edge, or limb, of the planet to provide long-term monitoring of ozone vertical profiles of the stratosphere and mesosphere. The data provided by SAGE III-ISS includes key components of atmospheric composition and their long-term variability, focusing on the study of aerosols, chlorine dioxide, clouds, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen trioxide, pressure and temperature, and water vapor. SAGE data has historically been used by the World Meteorological Organization to inform their periodic assessments of ozone depletion. These new observations from the International Space Station will continue the SAGE team's contributions to ongoing scientific understanding of the Earth's atmosphere.

Get the data

g3bssp_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="g3bssp",
    version="6",
    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 LARC_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.