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OCO2_L2_Diagnostic·v10r·dataset

Carbon dioxide in the air, with diagnostics (OCO-2)

OCO-2 Level 2 geolocated XCO2 retrieval results and algorithm diagnostic information, Retrospective Processing V10r (OCO2_L2_Diagnostic) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2
In plain English

What it measures. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air at specific locations, bundled together with extra diagnostic and behind-the-scenes processing details that explain how each measurement was produced.

How it's made. Generated from the OCO-2 satellite, which uses three spectrometers to measure sunlight reflected back from Earth in specific colors that reveal carbon dioxide and oxygen.

How & where you'd use it. Mainly a technical companion product for researchers checking the quality and inner workings of OCO-2 carbon dioxide retrievals, rather than a simple map for casual use.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2014-09-06 → 2022-03-01
  • 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 10r is the current version of the data set. Older versions will no longer be available and are superseded by Version 10r. In early 2021, the OCO Team identified an issue with OCO-2 level 2 products processed since January 28, 2020. The Ancillary Geometric Product (AGAP) file, a static file used in OCO-2 Geolocation processing, was inadvertently replaced with an obsolete version. This AGAP file included a ~300 m pointing error. As a result, all OCO-2 Level 2, version 10r, data files for the period January 28 - December 31, 2020, were corrected and replaced. The replacement process was completed by the end of June, 2021. The significance of this error has been described in Kiel et al. (2019; doi:10.5194/amt-12-2241-2019). 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. This collection encompass various data fields used for diagnostic and pre-processing, including aerosol optical depth, albedo, absorption coefficients, fluorescence, XCO2 uncertainties, averaging kernel, surface type, etc. This is the retrospective processing where the calibration data is estimated from the full timeseries of data (before, during, and after the measurements), and is expected to be of slightly higher quality.

Get the data

oco2_l2_diagnostic_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="OCO2_L2_Diagnostic",
    version="10r",
    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.