Carbon monoxide in the air, monthly map (MOPITT)
What it measures. Monthly maps of carbon monoxide — a pollutant gas — in the lower atmosphere, given both as profiles at different heights and as total amounts through the whole air column.
How it's made. Derived from the MOPITT instrument on the Terra satellite, which senses the gas using near- and thermal-infrared light, then averaged into monthly gridded maps.
How & where you'd use it. Tracks where carbon monoxide comes from and how it moves, helping monitor air pollution from fires, industry, and other sources over time.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2000-03-03 → 2025-02-01
- Measured byTerra (MOPITT)
- Processing levelLevel 3
- Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
- FormatsHDF-EOS5
- 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
MOP03JM_9 is the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) Carbon Monoxide (CO) gridded monthly means (Near and Thermal Infrared Radiances) version 9 data product. The "J" refers to the Joint use of the Thermal (T) and NIR (N) channels in the retrieval. It contains monthly mean-gridded daily Level 2 CO profile versions and total column retrievals. For this data product, the averaging kernels associated with each retrieval are also gridded and included in the Level 3 files. For a description of the file contents, refer to the File Spec Document. The MOPITT Level 2 Data Quality Statement contains additional information about the retrievals' quality and limitations. MOPITT was successfully launched into sun-synchronous polar orbit aboard Terra, NASA's first Earth Observing System spacecraft, on December 18, 1999. The MOPITT instrument was constructed by a consortium of Canadian companies and funded by the Space Science Division of the Canadian Space Agency.
Get the data
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="MOP03JM",
version="9",
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 LARC_CLOUDBrowsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package. Official links
- How to cite ASDC data VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- ASDC Direct Data Download for MOP03JM_9 GET DATA
- ASDC List of MOPITT Quality Statements VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- NASA Earthdata Article: Nature's contribution: Researchers investigate how much wildfires contribute to pollution, and how far this pollution can travel - By Jane Beitler VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Earth Observing System Data and InformationSystem (EOSDIS) Article: On The Trail of Global Pollution Drift VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- NASA Earth Observatory Article: Bushfires Raging in Southeast Australia : Natural Hazards - Data taken by the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite have been combined for 6 days from January 15-20, 2003 VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- NASA Earth Observatory Article: Carbon Monoxide from Tropical Fires : Natural Hazards - The Terra MOPITT sensor observed large plumes of carbon monoxide produced by biomass burning in South America and Africa in early August 2004. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- NASA Earth Observatory Article: Fires and Thick Smoke over South America : Natural Hazards - Places where MOPITT could not collect enough data to make an estimate of carbon monoxide (probably due to clouds) are gray. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION