Methane in the air (NOAA-20)
What it measures. How much methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) is in the air at different heights through the atmosphere, with uncertainty estimates.
How it's made. Retrieved from infrared readings by the CrIS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite using a NASA estimation method, gridded at about 14 km across 26 vertical levels.
How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists track methane in the atmosphere, an important contributor to climate change and air composition studies.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2021-04-01 → ongoing
- Measured byJPSS-1 (CrIS)
- 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 CrIS-JPSS1 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 CrIS instrument on the JPSS-1 (NOAA-20) satellite. The forward stream standard product is global for the time period from 2021-04-01 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 14 km (CrIS 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
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="TRPSDL2CH4CRS1FS",
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. Official links
- Access the data via HTTPS. GET DATA
- Access the data via the OPeNDAP protocol. USE SERVICE API
- README Document VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- User's Guide VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- ATBD VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- TROPESS Mission Guide VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Use the Earthdata Search to find and retrieve data sets across multiple data centers. GET DATA