Bromine monoxide that destroys ozone (MLS, Aura)
What it measures. The amount of bromine monoxide high up in the atmosphere, a gas that takes part in destroying the ozone layer, reported as profiles at different altitudes.
How it's made. Retrieved from microwave signals measured by the MLS instrument on NASA's Aura satellite, which looks sideways through the edge of the atmosphere.
How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists study the chemistry that breaks down ozone in the upper atmosphere.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2004-08-02 → ongoing
- Measured byAura (MLS)
- Processing levelLevel 2
- Spatial extent-180, -82, 180, 82
- 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
ML2BRO is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) standard product for bromine monoxide derived from radiances measured by the 640 GHz radiometer. The data version is 5.0. Data coverage is from August 8, 2004 to current. Spatial coverage is near-global (-82 degrees to +82 degrees latitude), with each profile spaced 1.5 degrees or ~165 km along the orbit track (roughly 15 orbits per day). The recommended useful vertical range is between 10 and 3.16 hPa, and the vertical resolution is about 5.5 km (6 km at 3.16 hPa). Users of the ML2BRO data product should read section 3.2 of the EOS MLS Level 2 Version 5 Quality Document for more information. The data are stored in the version 5 EOS Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS5), which is based on the version 5 Hierarchical Data Format, or HDF-5. Each file contains two swath objects (profile and column data), each with a set of data and geolocation fields, swath attributes, and metadata.
Get the data
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="ML2BRO",
version="005",
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. Official links
- Access the data via HTTP. GET DATA
- Access the data via the OPeNDAP protocol. USE SERVICE API
- Use the Earthdata Search to find and retrieve data sets across multiple data centers. GET DATA
- Data Quality and Description Document VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- List of publications. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Users are encouraged to register with the MLS science team to obtain updates and information about this data product. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- EOS MLS Retrieval Process Algorithm Theoretical Basis VIEW RELATED INFORMATION