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Full catalog/TRPSDL2HDOAIRSFS
TRPSDL2HDOAIRSFS·v1·dataset

Heavy-water vapor for tracking the water cycle (Aqua)

TROPESS AIRS-Aqua L2 Deuterated Water Vapor for Forward Stream, Standard Product V1 (TRPSDL2HDOAIRSFS) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 2 active
In plain English

What it measures. Tracks a rare, heavier form of water vapor (where hydrogen is replaced by its heavier cousin) at different heights in the atmosphere — a subtle marker for following how water moves through the air.

How it's made. Retrieved from the AIRS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite using an optimal-estimation method that reconstructs the vertical profile from the raw signal.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists trace the global water cycle — how water evaporates, travels, and rains out — by following this distinctive form of water vapor.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS › HYDROGEN-DEUTERIUM OXIDE

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 Deuterated Water Vapor for Forward Stream, Standard Product contains the vertical distribution of the retrieved atmospheric state of semi-heavy water (HDO), 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 17 vertical levels from the surface to 0.1 hPa. The principal investigator for the TROPESS project is Kevin W. Bowman.

Get the data

trpsdl2hdoairsfs_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="TRPSDL2HDOAIRSFS",
    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.