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Full catalog/ML3DZO3
ML3DZO3·v005·dataset

Ozone high in the atmosphere, daily by latitude (Aura MLS)

MLS/Aura Level 3 Daily Binned Ozone (O3) Mixing Ratio on Zonal and Similar Grids V005 (ML3DZO3) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 3 active
In plain English

What it measures. Daily measurements of how much ozone sits high in the atmosphere, organized by latitude bands and altitude, covering nearly the whole globe except the poles.

How it's made. Derived from the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA's Aura satellite, which senses microwave signals from the atmosphere's limb, then binned into daily averages on several grids.

How & where you'd use it. Used to monitor the ozone layer and study atmospheric chemistry, including conditions inside the polar vortex; a specialist product with detailed quality documentation.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC OZONE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2004-08-02 → ongoing
  • Measured byAura (MLS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • 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

ML3DZO3 is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) daily binned on zonal and assorted vertical grids product for ozone (O3) derived from radiances measured by the 240 GHz radiometer. The data version is 5.1. Spatial coverage is near-global (-82 to +82 degrees latitude) at 4 degree latitude zonal increments. The recommended useful vertical range is from 261 to 0.0215 hPa, and the vertical resolution is between 2.5 and 6 km. Users of the ML3DZO3 data product should read chapter 4 and section 3.18 of the EOS MLS Level 2 Version 5 Quality Document for more information. The data files contain one year of data and are archived in the netCDF4 format, which is also compatible with HDF5 readers and tools. Each file contains four group objects: lat vs pressure zonal mean, lat vs "potential temperature" zonal mean, "equivalent latitude" vs "potential temperature" zonal mean, and vortex average vs "potential temperature". These are further subdivided into groups with all valid, ascending orbit, descending orbit, daytime (SZA < 90), and nighttime (SZA > 110) profiles. Each group has a set of data (average, min, max, std dev, rms) and geolocation fields, grid attributes, and metadata.

Get the data

ml3dzo3_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ML3DZO3",
    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.