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Full catalog/gnssro_cosmic1_ucar_l2b
gnssro_cosmic1_ucar_l2b·v2.0·dataset

Air temperature, pressure and moisture from GPS signals (COSMIC)

GNSS radio occultation L2B temperature, pressure, and water vapor retrieval for COSMIC1 as contributed by UCAR, version 2.0 (gnssro_cosmic1_ucar_l2b)
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Vertical readings of air temperature, pressure, and water vapor through the atmosphere, with each file covering a single measurement point.

How it's made. Uses GPS radio occultation: it tracks how GPS satellite signals bend as they skim through Earth's atmosphere (seen by the COSMIC-1 satellites), and works backward to infer the air's properties.

How & where you'd use it. Provides widely distributed atmospheric profiles that strengthen weather forecasting and atmospheric research, thanks to the large number of daily observations.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ALTITUDE › GEOPOTENTIAL HEIGHTATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › UPPER AIR TEMPERATURE › VERTICAL PROFILESATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROFILESATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2006-04-30 → ongoing
  • Measured byCOSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 (GNSS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • 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

This dataset provides Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Radio Occultation (RO) Temperature, Pressure, and Water Vapor data from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere & Climate - 1 mission as contributed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Each granule represents a single occultation. GNSS RO is a remote sensing technique that measures the refracted radio signals generated by GNSS satellites and viewed through Earth’s limb. Parameters describing the refraction can be used to infer familiar atmospheric variables such as temperature, pressure and water vapor. The RO technique allows for increased global coverage of temperature and water vapor through the large number of daily observations and as a result plays an important role in the enhancement of Numerical Weather Prediction and other atmospheric-related studies.

Get the data

gnssro_cosmic1_ucar_l2b_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="gnssro_cosmic1_ucar_l2b",
    version="2.0",
    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.