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Full catalog/ML2CH3OH
ML2CH3OH·v005·dataset

Methanol gas in the air (Aura)

MLS/Aura Level 2 Methanol (CH3OH) Mixing Ratio V005 (ML2CH3OH) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Reports how much methanol gas sits at various heights in the upper atmosphere, as a mixing ratio, in vertical profiles along the orbit. Note: the data providers caution these readings still need further validation before use.

How it's made. Derived from the 640 GHz radiometer on NASA's Aura satellite by reading faint microwave emissions from the gas.

How & where you'd use it. Intended for atmospheric chemistry research, though scientists are advised to treat it as preliminary until it is more fully checked.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › HALOCARBONS AND HALOGENS › METHANOL

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

At this time it is recommended that these data not be used pending further validation.ML2CH3OH is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) standard product for methanol 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 147 and 100 hPa, and the vertical resolution range is about 4-5 km. Users of the ML2CH3OH data product should read section 3.5 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 one swath object (profile data), with a set of data and geolocation fields, swath attributes, and metadata.

Get the data

ml2ch3oh_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ML2CH3OH",
    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.