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Full catalog/OCO2_L2_Lite_FP
OCO2_L2_Lite_FP·v11.2r·dataset

Carbon dioxide in the air, daily (OCO-2)

OCO-2 Level 2 bias-corrected XCO2 and other select fields from the full-physics retrieval aggregated as daily files, Retrospective processing V11.2r (OCO2_L2_Lite_FP) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the air, given as the average amount of CO2 in a column of atmosphere from the ground to space. Values are bias-corrected and bundled into daily files.

How it's made. Measured by NASA's OCO-2 satellite, whose three spectrometers read sunlight reflected off Earth in specific infrared colors that CO2 and oxygen absorb, then convert those readings into CO2 amounts.

How & where you'd use it. Used to track where carbon dioxide builds up and is taken up, study natural and human carbon sources and sinks, and support climate research.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2014-06-01 → 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 11.2r is the current version of the data set. The OCO-2 Lite files contain bias-corrected XCO2 along with other select fields aggregated as daily files. 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_lite_fp_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="OCO2_L2_Lite_FP",
    version="11.2r",
    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.