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OCO2_L2_Diagnostic·v11.2·dataset

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

OCO-2 Level 2 geolocated XCO2 retrieval results and algorithm diagnostic information V11.2 (OCO2_L2_Diagnostic) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Estimates of how much carbon dioxide is in a column of air, paired with a rich set of diagnostic and quality information, like aerosol amounts, surface brightness, fluorescence, and the uncertainty of each measurement.

How it's made. Comes from the OCO-2 satellite, which uses three precise spectrometers to read sunlight reflected off Earth; this is the Level-2 version that keeps the detailed algorithm diagnostics alongside the CO2 retrievals.

How & where you'd use it. Mainly for researchers checking data quality, validating the carbon-dioxide measurements, and understanding how the retrieval algorithm behaved under different conditions.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2019-11-30 → ongoing
  • Measured byOCO-2 (OCO-2)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • 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 Older versions will no longer be available and are superseded by Version 11.2.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 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.

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="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.