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Full catalog/ML3MBRHI
ML3MBRHI·v004·dataset

How humid the air is relative to ice, monthly (Aura)

MLS/Aura Level 3 Monthly Binned Relative Humidity With Respect To Ice (RHI) on Assorted Grids V004 (ML3MBRHI) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 3 active
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly readings of how humid the upper atmosphere is compared with the point where ice would form, sorted by latitude and altitude. High values point to conditions where ice clouds can develop.

How it's made. Derived from microwave signals measured by the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA's Aura satellite, then averaged into monthly bins.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for studying high-altitude clouds, water vapor, and how moisture behaves in the cold upper atmosphere.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › HUMIDITY › RELATIVE HUMIDITY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2004-08-02 → ongoing
  • Measured byAura (MLS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -82, 180, 82
  • StatusCOMPLETE

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

ML3MBRHI is the EOS Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) monthly binned on various vertical grids product for relative humidity with respect to ice (RHI) derived from radiances measured by the 118 and 190 GHz radiometers. The data version is 4.2. Spatial coverage is near-global (-82 to +82 degrees latitude) at a spatial resolution of 4 degrees latitude by 5 degrees longitude. The recommended useful vertical range is from 316 to 0.0215 hPa, and the vertical resolution is between 3 and 6 km. Users of the ML3MBRHI data product should read chapter 4 and section 3.20 of the EOS MLS Level 2 Version 4 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 six group objects: lat-lon map vs pressure, lat vs pressure zonal mean, lat-lon map vs theta, lat vs theta zonal mean, equivalent lat vs theta zonal mean, and vortex average vs theta. Each group has a set of data (average, min, max, std dev, rms) and geolocation fields, grid attributes, and metadata.

Get the data

ml3mbrhi_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ML3MBRHI",
    version="004",
    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.