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Full catalog/TRPSDL2CH4AIRSFS
TRPSDL2CH4AIRSFS·v1·dataset

Methane in the air, detailed (Aqua)

TROPESS AIRS-Aqua L2 Methane for Forward Stream, Standard Product V1 (TRPSDL2CH4AIRSFS) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Shows how much methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is present in the air at different heights, along with estimates of how uncertain each reading is.

How it's made. Derived from the AIRS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, with a careful estimation method (part of the TROPESS project) that turns the raw measurements into vertical methane profiles, one file per day.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for tracking greenhouse gas levels, studying where methane comes from and how it moves, and checking climate and air-chemistry models against real observations.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS › METHANE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2021-02-01 → 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

The TROPESS AIRS-Aqua L2 Methane for Forward Stream, Standard Product contains the vertical distribution of the retrieved atmospheric state of methane (CH4), formal uncertainties, and diagnostic information measured by the AIRS instrument on the EOS Aqua satellite. The forward stream standard product is global for the time period from 2021-02-01 to present. The NASA TRopospheric Ozone and Precursors from Earth System Sounding (TROPESS) project, uses an optimal estimation algorithm, known as the MUlti-SpEctra, MUlti-SpEcies, Multi-SEnsors (MUSES). The data files are written in the netCDF version 4 file format, and each file contains one day of data. The data have a spatial resolution of 13.5 km (AIRS nadir FOV), and are reported at 26 vertical levels from the surface to 0.1 hPa. The principal investigator for the TROPESS project is Kevin W. Bowman.

Get the data

trpsdl2ch4airsfs_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="TRPSDL2CH4AIRSFS",
    version="1",
    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.