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Full catalog/OCO3_L1aIn_Sample
OCO3_L1aIn_Sample·v11·dataset

Lightly processed raw science data (OCO-3)

OCO-3 Level 1A collated, parsed, science or calibration data V11 (OCO3_L1aIn_Sample) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 1A active
In plain English

What it measures. Lightly processed raw science data from the OCO-3 carbon-monitoring instrument, essentially the sorted-and-packaged raw detector readings (in the instrument's own counts) plus calibrated engineering data, before they become actual carbon-dioxide measurements.

How it's made. The OCO-3 instrument's three spectrometers, which measure reflected sunlight, deliver raw counts that are unpacked and organized into standard files; this is the input to the next processing stage.

How & where you'd use it. A building-block input that feeds later processing into usable measurements. Most people would use the downstream products rather than this raw stage directly.

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-3 (OCO-3)
  • Processing levelLevel 1A
  • 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 is the current version of the data set. Older versions will no longer be available and are superseded by Version 11. 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-3 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. The three spectrometers have different characteristics and are calibrated independently. Their raw data numbers (DN) are delivered correlated in time to the Level 1B process as Level 1A products. Each band has 1016 spectral elements, although some are masked out in the L2 retrieval.This product is the input to the Level 1B process. It is depacketized raw data formatted into a standard granularity with calibrated engineering data (for both science and calibration observations), in the Sample Mode of operation.

Get the data

oco3_l1ain_sample_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="OCO3_L1aIn_Sample",
    version="11",
    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.