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Full catalog/ML3MBCO
ML3MBCO·v005·dataset

Carbon monoxide in the high air, monthly (Aura)

MLS/Aura Level 3 Monthly Binned Carbon Monoxide (CO) Mixing Ratio on Assorted Grids V005 (ML3MBCO) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 3 active
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly averages of carbon monoxide concentrations high in the atmosphere, mapped on various vertical levels across most of the globe.

How it's made. Derived from radio signals measured by the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA's Aura satellite, then binned into monthly averages; covers August 2005 to the present.

How & where you'd use it. Used to track carbon monoxide, a marker of pollution and burning, in the upper atmosphere and study how it moves and changes over time.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC CARBON MONOXIDE

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

ML3MBCO is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) monthly binned on various vertical grids product for carbon monoxide (CO) derived from radiances measured by the 640 GHz radiometer. The data version is 5.1. Data coverage is from August 2005 to current. Spatial coverage is near-global (-82 to +82 degrees latitude), with a spatial resolution of 4 degrees latitude by 5 degrees longitude. The recommended useful vertical range is between 215 and 0.00464 hPa, and the vertical resolution is about 6 km. Users of the ML3MBCO data product should read chapter 4 and section 3.7 of the EOS MLS Level 2 Version 5 Quality Document for more information. The data files are archived in the netCDF4 format, which is also compatible with HDF5 readers and tools. Each file contains two grid objects (profile and column data), each with a set of data and geolocation fields, grid attributes, and metadata.

Get the data

ml3mbco_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ML3MBCO",
    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.