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Full catalog/ML2HO2
ML2HO2·v005·dataset

Hydroperoxy, a reactive molecule in the air (Aura)

MLS/Aura Level 2 Hydroperoxy (HO2) Mixing Ratio V005 (ML2HO2) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Measures the amount of hydroperoxy, a short-lived reactive molecule, at different heights in the atmosphere as a vertical profile. It is part of the chemistry that breaks down and forms other gases.

How it's made. Derived from microwave signals collected by the Aura satellite's Microwave Limb Sounder as it views through the edge of the atmosphere.

How & where you'd use it. A specialist research product used by scientists studying the detailed chemistry of the upper atmosphere, not intended for general use.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS › HYDROPEROXY

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

ML2HO2 is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) standard product for hydroperoxy derived from radiances measured in two bands from the 640 GHz radiometer. The data version is 5.0. 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 from 21.5 to 0.0464 hPa, and the vertical resolution is about 5 km. Users of the ML2HO2 data product should read section 3.13 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

ml2ho2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ML2HO2",
    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.