Skip to main content

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.

Product Summary

Platforms
Aqua
Instruments
AIRS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
GEODETIC
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2002-08-30 to Present
Data Partner
Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (formerly Goddard DAAC), Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDI
Concept ID
C1693440795-GES_DISC
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
2053818
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Tropospheric Ozone ,
Tropopause ,
Methane ,
Atmospheric Ozone ,
Surface Pressure ,
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ,
Surface Temperature ,
Air Temperature ,
Upper Air Temperature ,
Layered Precipitable Water ,
Total Precipitable Water ,
Water Vapor Profiles ,
Cloud Fraction ,
Cloud Top Pressure ,
Cloud Top Temperature ,
Cloud Vertical Distribution ,
Precipitation Rate ,
Emissivity ,
Skin Temperature ,
Sea Surface Temperature

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Barnet, C. (2019). Sounder SIPS: AQUA AIRS IR-only Level 2 CLIMCAPS : Atmosphere, cloud and surface geophysical state V2 [Data set]. NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ILFPVBTDHTDL Date Accessed: 2026-05-03

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

No Results
You're viewing 1 of 1

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor Offset
hno3_dof The trace of the averaging kernel matrix as a measure of the number of pieces of information about the nitric acid profile provided by the physical retrieval step. 1 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
ir_precip_est_24hr The thickness of a layer of liquid water equivalent to the estimated preciptitation over 24 hours. m float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
ir_precip_est_24hr_err ir_precip_est_24hr error estimate m float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
ir_precip_est_24hr_qc ir_precip_est_24hr QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
land_frac land fraction over the FOR 1 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
lat latitude of FOR center degrees_north float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
lat_bnds latitudes of points forming a polygon around the perimeter of the FOV degrees_north float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
lat_geoid latitude of FOR center on the geoid (without terrain correction) degrees_north float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
local_solar_time local apparent solar time in hours from midnight hours float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
lon longitude of FOR center degrees_east float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
lon_bnds longitudes of points forming a polygon around the perimeter of the FOV degrees_east float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
lon_geoid longitude of FOR center on the geoid (without terrain correction) degrees_east float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mean_anom_wrt_equat spacecraft mean anomaly measured with respect to the ascending node degree float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/ch4_mol_lay Methane layer total on 100 layers molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/ch4_mol_lay_err ch4_mol_lay error estimate molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/ch4_mol_lay_qc ch4_mol_lay QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/co_mol_lay Carbon monoxide layer total on 100 layers molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/co_mol_lay_err co_mol_lay error estimate molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/co_mol_lay_qc co_mol_lay QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/h2o_vap_mol_lay Water vapor layer total on 100 layers molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/h2o_vap_mol_lay_err h2o_vap_mol_lay error estimate molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/h2o_vap_mol_lay_qc h2o_vap_mol_lay QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/n2o_mol_lay nitrous oxide layer total on 100 layers molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/n2o_mol_lay_err n2o_mol_lay error estimate molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/n2o_mol_lay_qc n2o_mol_lay QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/o3_mol_lay Ozone layer total on 100 layers molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/o3_mol_lay_err o3_mol_lay error estimate molecules / m2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
mol_lay/o3_mol_lay_qc o3_mol_lay QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
n2o_dof The trace of the averaging kernel matrix as a measure of the number of pieces of information about the nitrous oxide profile provided by the physical retrieval step. 1 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
num_cld Number of cloud layers with nonzero cloud fraction 1 int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
num_cld_qc QC flag for number of cloud layers N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
o3_dof The trace of the averaging kernel matrix as a measure of the number of pieces of information about the ozone profile provided by the physical retrieval step. 1 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
o3_mmr ozone mass mixing ratio to dry air kg / kg float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
o3_mmr_err o3_mmr error estimate kg / kg float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
o3_mmr_qc o3_mmr QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
o3_tot Total column ozone. (Multiply by 4.670e5 to convert to Dobson Units from kg m^-2) kg m-2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
o3_tot_err o3_tot error estimate kg m-2 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
o3_tot_qc o3_tot QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
obs_id unique earth view observation identifier: yyyymmddThhmm.aaExx. Includes gran_id plus 2-digit along-track index (01-45) and 2-digit cross-track index (01-30). N/A OTHER N/A N/A N/A N/A
obs_time_tai93 earth view observation midtime for each FOV seconds since 1993-01-01 00:00 float64 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
obs_time_utc UTC earth view observation time as an array of integers: year, month, day, hour, minute, second, millisec, microsec N/A uint16 65535 N/A N/A N/A
rel_hum relative humidity over equilibrium phase 1 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
rel_hum_err rel_hum error estimate 1 float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
rel_hum_qc rel_hum QC flag N/A int8 -127 N/A N/A N/A
sat_alt satellite altitude with respect to earth model at scan_mid_time m float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
sat_att satellite attitude at scan_mid_time. An orthogonal triad. First element is angle about the +x (roll) ORB axis. +x axis is positively oriented in the direction of orbital flight. Second element is angle about +y (pitch) ORB axis. +y axis is oriented normal to the orbit plane with the positive sense opposite to that of the orbit's angular momentum vector H. Third element is angle about +z (yaw) axis. +z axis is positively oriented Earthward parallel to the satellite radius vector R from the spacecraft center of mass to the center of the Earth. degree float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
sat_azi satellite azimuth angle at the center of the spot (clockwise from North) degree float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
sat_pos satellite ECR position at scan_mid_time m float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
sat_range line of sight distance between satellite and spot center m float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
sat_sol_azi solar azimuth angle at the satellite (clockwise from North) degree float32 9.9692099683869E+36 N/A N/A N/A
You're viewing 100 of 162