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Full catalog/SNDRAQIL2CCPRET
SNDRAQIL2CCPRET·v2·dataset

Atmosphere, cloud and surface conditions (Aqua sounder)

Sounder SIPS: AQUA AIRS IR-only Level 2 CLIMCAPS : Atmosphere, cloud and surface geophysical state V2 (SNDRAQIL2CCPRET) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. A full picture of the atmosphere's state: profiles of temperature, water vapor, ozone, carbon monoxide, and methane, plus cloud and surface properties, at about 50-km detail. (Note: the dataset carries a known bias in one carbon monoxide variable that users must correct.)

How it's made. Produced by the CLIMCAPS algorithm analyzing infrared measurements from the AIRS sounder on NASA's Aqua satellite, using a statistical best-estimate approach.

How & where you'd use it. Used to study atmospheric structure, greenhouse and trace gases, and clouds, supporting weather and climate research.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › AIR QUALITY › TROPOSPHERIC OZONEATMOSPHERE › ALTITUDE › TROPOPAUSEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS › METHANEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC OZONEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › SURFACE PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › OUTGOING LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › UPPER AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › LAYERED PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROFILESATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD FRACTIONATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD TOP PRESSURE

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

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
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. The CLIMCAPS algorithm uses an Optimal Estimation methodology and uses an a-priori first guess to start the process. A CLIMCAPS sounding is comprised of a set of parameters that characterizes the full atmospheric state and includes a variety of geophysical parameters derived from the CrIMSS data. These include surface temperature and infrared emissivity; full atmosphere profiles of temperature, water vapor and ozone; infrared effective cloud top characteristics; carbon monoxide, methane, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and nitric acid. An AIRS level 2 granule has been set as 6 minutes of data, 30 footprints cross track by 45 lines along track. There are 240 granules per day, with an orbit repeat cycle of approximately 16 day.

Get the data

sndraqil2ccpret_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="SNDRAQIL2CCPRET",
    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.