Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/SNDRAQIL2CCPCCR
SNDRAQIL2CCPCCR·v2·dataset

Cloud-cleared infrared brightness (Aqua AIRS)

Sounder SIPS: AQUA AIRS IR-only Level 2 CLIMCAPS: Cloud Cleared Radiances V2 (SNDRAQIL2CCPCCR) at GES DISC
land NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Infrared brightness measurements from the AIRS instrument that have had the effects of clouds removed, so they represent what the sensor would see under clear skies, channel by channel.

How it's made. Produced by the CLIMCAPS processing system from the AIRS infrared spectrometer on the Aqua satellite, as a Level 2 cloud-cleared radiance product.

How & where you'd use it. An intermediate input used to retrieve temperature, water vapor, ozone, and trace gases; note the documentation flags a known bias in one derived carbon monoxide variable that users must correct.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › INFRARED RADIANCESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › MICROWAVE › BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › MICROWAVE › MICROWAVE RADIANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-08-30 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (AIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

WARNING: To users of the derived product “co_mmr_midtrop” (carbon monoxide mass mixing ratio to dry air [kg/kg] at ~500 hPa). This variable has a significant bias due to a conversion error: the molecular weight of carbon dioxide (CO2, 44.01 g/mol) was used instead of carbon monoxide (CO, 28.01 g/mol). To correct, simply multiply “co_mmr_midtrop” by 28.01/44.01. Alternatively, derive a profile of mass mixing ratio from scratch using the retrieved column density values (“mol_lay/co_mol_lay”) in the Level 2 files. For further questions or concerns please contact the Sounder SIPS at: sounder.sips@jpl.nasa.gov The CLIMCAPS (Community Long-term Infrared Microwave Coupled Product System) algorithm is used to analyze data from the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder). The AIRS instrument is a grating spectrometer (R = 1200) aboard the second Earth Observing System (EOS) polar-orbiting platform, EOS Aqua. The AIRS CLIMCAPS Retrieval Product consists of retrieved estimates of cloud and surface properties, plus profiles of retrieved temperature, water vapor, ozone, carbon monoxide and methane. The temperature profile vertical resolution is 100 levels total between 1100 mb and 0.1 mb, while moisture profile is reported at atmospheric layers between 1100 mb and 300 mb. The horizontal resolution is 50 km. Cloud-Cleared Radiances contain calibrated, geolocated channel-by-channel AIRS infrared radiances (milliWatts/m2/cm-1/steradian) that would have been observed if there were no clouds in the FOV. An AIRS granule has been set as 6 minutes of data, 30 footprints cross track by 45 lines along track for each of the approximate 2378 channels. There are 240 granules per day, with an orbit repeat cycle of approximately 16 day.

Get the data

sndraqil2ccpccr_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="SNDRAQIL2CCPCCR",
    version="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.