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Full catalog/OCO2_L2_ABand
OCO2_L2_ABand·v11r·dataset

CO₂ retrieval, oxygen-band screened (OCO-2)

OCO-2 Level 2 spatially ordered geolocated retrievals screened using the A-band Preprocessor, Retrospective Processing V11r (OCO2_L2_ABand) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2
In plain English

What it measures. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the air, measured from space and cleaned up using an extra screening step based on how oxygen absorbs light, which helps filter out unreliable readings.

How it's made. Produced from the OCO-2 satellite, which carries three sensitive instruments that read sunlight reflected off Earth in near-infrared and oxygen wavelengths, then turns those readings into CO2 estimates.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists understand where carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere and what controls it — important for tracking the gas most responsible for climate change.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2014-09-01 → 2024-04-01
  • Measured byOCO-2 (OCO-2)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • 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

Version 11r is the current version of the data set. Older versions will no longer be available and are superseded by Version 11r. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is the first NASA mission designed to collect space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the precision, resolution, and coverage needed to characterize the processes 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 of reflected sunlight in the near-infrared CO2 near 1.61 and 2.06 micrometers and in molecular oxygen (O2) A-Band at 0.76 micrometers.

Get the data

oco2_l2_aband_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="OCO2_L2_ABand",
    version="11r",
    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.