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Full catalog/ML3MBHNO3
ML3MBHNO3·v005·dataset

Nitric acid gas levels in the air, monthly (Aura)

MLS/Aura Level 3 Monthly Binned Nitric Acid (HNO3) Mixing Ratio on Assorted Grids V005 (ML3MBHNO3) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 3 active
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly measurements of how much nitric acid gas is present at different heights in the atmosphere, organized by latitude and altitude.

How it's made. Derived from radio-wave signals (radiances) measured by the 240 GHz and 190 GHz instruments on NASA's Aura satellite, then averaged into monthly grids.

How & where you'd use it. Used by atmospheric scientists to study stratospheric chemistry and ozone-related processes, since nitric acid plays a role in ozone destruction.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › NITROGEN COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC NITRIC ACID

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

ML3MBHNO3 is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) monthly binned on various vertical grids product for nitric acid (HNO3) derived from radiances measured by the 240 GHz radiometer at and below 10 hPa, and from the 190 GHz radiometer above 10 hPa. 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 from 215 to 1.47 hPa (1.0 hPa under enhanced conditions), and the vertical resolution is between about 3 and 5 km. Users of the ML3MBHNO3 data product should read chapter 4 and section 3.12 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

ml3mbhno3_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ML3MBHNO3",
    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.