Background
The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO) mission, launched in April 2023, provides key air quality measurements of trace gas constituents over North America from a geostationary orbit. These observations are important to the air quality forecasting and modeling communities.
Survey respondents requested that a subset of the currently planned TEMPO products be expedited to near real-time (NRT) availability to assist in forecasting and modeling efforts. Science-quality products, which are more accurate than NRT products, but take additional time to produce, for trace gas measurements are also of interest to support long-term analysis.
Status
Currently in Development, but Some Data are Available Now
Hourly NRT air quality products for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), and clouds (using O2-O2 absorption) are currently being produced along with a Level 1B radiance product that will enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to produce an NRT TEMPO/Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) aerosol product.
In addition, an hourly NRT sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentration product from TEMPO is currently in development. By adapting established science algorithms from NASA's Ozone Monitoring Instrument, the solution also aims to produce seven science-quality products using trace gas measurements from TEMPO (SO2, ultraviolet aerosol optical depth (UVAOD), aerosol height, water (H2O), ultraviolet B radiation (UVB), glyoxal (CHOCHO), and bromine monoxide (BrO)).
Solution Characteristics
| Products | NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide) | HCHO (Formaldehyde) | O2-O2 (Cloud) | Radiance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | Intelsat 40e (IS-40e) | IS-40e | IS-40e | IS-40e |
| Sensor Type | Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer | Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer | Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer | Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrometer |
| Processing Level | 2 and 3 | 2 and 3 | 2 and 3 | 1B |
| Temporal Coverage | September 2025 - Present | September 2025 - Present | September 2025 - Present | September 2025 - Present |
| Temporal Frequency | Hourly | Hourly | Hourly | Hourly |
| Latency | 3 hours | 3 hours | 3 hours | 3 hours |
| Spatial Coverage | North America | North America | North America | North America |
| Spatial Resolution | 2.0 x 4.75 km2 | 2.0 x 4.75 km2 | 2.0 x 4.75 km2 | 2.0 x 4.75 km2 |
| Data Format | NetCDF4/HDF5 | NetCDF4/HDF5 | NetCDF4/HDF5 | NetCDF4/HDF5 |
Finalized data characteristics for the SO2 NRT product and seven science-quality products are not yet available.
Societal Impact
This solution will provide low-latency Level 1B radiance, NO2, HCHO, clouds, and SO2 data as well as science-quality aerosol, trace gas, and UVB products to support air quality forecasting and modeling and assist local, state, and federal air quality agencies alert the public to poor air quality.
Solution Resources
Need help using this solution? A number of relevant, focused training resources are aggregated into the following categories below: Fundamentals of Remote Sensing, Missions and Instruments, Data Products and Descriptions, Data Access and Code Examples, and Use Case and Application Examples. Information on workshops and open meetings are also included. The resources below are for the TEMPO NRT and Enhanced products.