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OCO2_L1B_Calibration·v11.2·dataset

Instrument calibration light spectra (OCO-2)

OCO-2 Level 1B calibrated, geolocated calibration spectra V11.2 (OCO2_L1B_Calibration) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 1B active
In plain English

What it measures. Calibration spectra collected during special instrument-check modes (such as looking at the Moon, the Sun, or dark space) rather than normal Earth-observing measurements.

How it's made. Produced from the OCO-2 satellite's three spectrometers during calibration observations, processed into calibrated, location-referenced spectra that differ from the regular science data mainly in the pointing information provided.

How & where you'd use it. A specialized input used to keep the instrument accurate; it supports the quality of the main carbon-dioxide products rather than being used directly by the public.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › INFRARED RADIANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2019-11-30 → ongoing
  • Measured byOCO-2 (OCO-2)
  • Processing levelLevel 1B
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • 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

Version 11.2 is the current version of the data set. Older versions will no longer be available and are superseded by Version 11.2. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is the first NASA missiondesigned to collect space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxidewith the precision, resolution, and coverage needed to characterize theprocesses controlling its buildup in the atmosphere. The OCO-2 project uses the LEOStar-2 spacecraft that carries a single instrument. It incorporates three high-resolution spectrometers that make coincident measurements ofreflected sunlight in the near-infrared CO2 near 1.61 and 2.06 micrometers and inmolecular oxygen (O2) A-Band at 0.76 micrometers. The three spectrometers have different characteristics and are calibrated independently. Their raw data numbers (DN) are delivered correlated in time tothe Level 1B process as Level 1A products. Each band has 1016 spectralelements, although some are masked out in the L2 retrieval.This L1B product results from calibration mode measurements (e.g., Lunar,Solar, Dark observations), and thus it differs from the OCO2_L1B_Science(L1bSc) product. The differences in the product formats are only in the geolocation information provided. Whereas the L1bSc products report geolocation data for each sounding, calibration products report the directionof the boresight vector.

Get the data

oco2_l1b_calibration_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="OCO2_L1B_Calibration",
    version="11.2",
    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.