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Full catalog/ML2CLO
ML2CLO·v005·dataset

Chlorine monoxide that destroys ozone (Aura)

MLS/Aura Level 2 Chlorine Monoxide (ClO) Mixing Ratio V005 (ML2CLO) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Vertical profiles of chlorine monoxide high in the atmosphere, reported as a mixing ratio at different altitudes. Chlorine monoxide is a key chemical in the reactions that destroy ozone.

How it's made. Measured by the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA's Aura satellite, mainly from its 640 GHz radiometer, giving near-global profiles along each orbit since 2004.

How & where you'd use it. Used by atmospheric scientists to study ozone destruction chemistry, especially the processes behind the polar ozone holes.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › HALOCARBONS AND HALOGENS › CHLORINE MONOXIDE

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

ML2CLO is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) standard product for chlorine monoxide derived from radiances measured primarily 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 1.0 hPa, and the vertical resolution varies between 3 and 4.5 km. Users of the ML2CLO data product should read section 3.6 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

ml2clo_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ML2CLO",
    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.