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Full catalog/PREFIRE_SAT1_2B-ATM
PREFIRE_SAT1_2B-ATM·vR01·dataset

Polar atmosphere heat and moisture profiles (PREFIRE Sat 1)

Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) Atmospheric Properties from PREFIRE Satellite 1 R01
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2B active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Profiles of the polar atmosphere, including temperature, pressure, how much water vapor is present at different heights, total column water vapor, and surface temperature and pressure.

How it's made. Derived from far- and mid-infrared measurements by the PREFIRE TIRS spectrometer aboard a small PREFIRE CubeSat, combined with cloud-mask and other supporting data through an estimation method.

How & where you'd use it. Helps fill long-standing gaps in measuring heat and moisture over the poles, feeding climate and circulation models so they can better predict future polar conditions.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENTSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › UPPER AIR TEMPERATURE › VERTICAL PROFILESATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-07-24 → ongoing
  • Measured byPREFIRE-SAT1 (TIRS-PREFIRE)
  • Processing levelLevel 2B
  • Spatial extent-180, -84, 180, 84
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • 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

Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) Atmospheric Properties from PREFIRE Satellite 1 (PREFIRE_SAT1_2B-ATM) contains several geophysical variables, such as atmospheric temperature and water content, retrieved from data collected by the PREFIRE Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIRS-PREFIRE) aboard PREFIRE-SAT1. Dual CubeSats each carry a PREFIRE Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIRS-PREFIRE), a push broom spectrometer with 63 channels measuring mid- and far-infrared (FIR) radiation from approximately 5 to 53 µm. Most polar emissions are in the FIR but have not been measured on a large scale. PREFIRE aims to fill knowledge gaps in the global energy budget by more accurately characterizing polar emissions. This information will then be assimilated into global circulation and other models to predict future conditions more accurately. PREFIRE_SAT1_2B-ATM contains column water vapor, temperature, pressure, and water vapor profiles, surface temperature, and surface pressure as derived from PREFIRE Spectral Radiance (PREFIRE_SAT1_1B-RAD) data using an Optimal Estimation retrieval via a Radiative Transfer Model with inputs from PREFIRE_SAT1_2B-MSK (cloud mask), PREFIRE_SAT1_AUX-MET, and PREFIRE_SAT1_SFC. Science data retrieval started July 24, 2024 and is ongoing. Geographic coverage is global, with the greatest concentration of data in the polar regions. Within the orbital swath there are eight distinct tracks of data associated with the eight separate spatial scenes for each PREFIRE-TIRS. At the beginning of the mission, the approximate scene footprint sizes were 11.8 km x 34.8 km (cross-track x along-track), with gaps between each scene of approximately 24.2 km. The entire swath was ~264 km across. Note that the scene footprint and swath sizes quoted here are for the orbit altitude soon after launch. However, the footprint size will slowly become smaller as the orbit altitude decreases with time. This data has a temporal resolution of 0.707 seconds and is available in netCDF-4. The atmospheric properties data for the sister instrument aboard PREFIRE-SAT2 can be found in the PREFIRE_SAT2_2B-ATM collection.

Get the data

prefire_sat1_2b-atm_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PREFIRE_SAT1_2B-ATM",
    version="R01",
    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 LARC_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.