Poor air quality is one of the largest global environmental and health threats. Instruments aboard NASA satellite and airborne platforms continually acquire data about these pollutants.
This Data Pathfinder is designed to help guide you through the process of selecting and using datasets applicable to air quality, with guidance on spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, as well as direct links to the data sources.
Getting Started with this Pathfinder
Who is the intended audience for this Pathfinder?
This Data Pathfinder is primarily intended for:
Users with some experience using remote sensing data or who are experienced data science professionals
GIS users who are interested in locating data, workflows, web services, maps, and similar resources
Python or R programmers who are interested in locating data, tools, and resources such as Jupyter Notebooks, scripts, and similar resources
Practical data users who are interested in ASCII, CSV files, apps, and tools for quick analysis
Join our community of NASA data users
While NASA data are openly available without restriction, an Earthdata Login is required to download data and to use some tools (such as Giovanni) with full functionality.
Benefits of having an Earthdata Login include:
Provides users a single sign-on, meaning that the user only has to enter their username and password once, to gain access to multiple (different) applications
Saves users’ preferences
Offers ability to receive news/notifications on data and services
Serves greater support for customizable interfaces
Gives supplemental information about data resources
If you have specific questions about how to use data, tools, or resources mentioned in this Data Pathfinder, please visit the Earthdata Forum. Here, you can interact with other data users and NASA subject matter experts on a variety of Earth science research and applications topics.
Find the Data
If you are new to remote sensing, the What is Remote Sensing? Backgrounder provides a comprehensive overview. In addition, NASA's Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) provides numerous training modules, including Fundamentals of Remote Sensing.
This section provides links to NASA and external tools and applications relevant to analyzing and visualizing air quality data referenced in this Data Pathfinder. NASA's Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program maintains many more resources for data analysis that may be helpful. Explore the full list on the NASA Earthdata Data Tools page.
Find
ClimateSERV
The ClimateSERV data visualization tool enables users to visualize and download historical rainfall data, vegetation condition data, and 180-day forecasts of rainfall and temperature, all of which can contribute to air quality. ClimateSERV offers an API for those who wish to incorporate their data into a separate application or script.
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NASA Earthdata Search
Earthdata Search is NASA's tool for searching for and discovering NASA Earth science data as well as relevant data available through U.S. and international agencies. Users can search for and read about data collections, search for data files by date and spatial area, preview browse images, and download or submit requests for data files, with customization for select data collections. Note: An Earthdata Login is required to download data.
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In the project area (for some datasets) users can customize granules. Users can reformat the data and output as HDF, netCDF, ASCII, KML, or a GeoTIFF and can choose from a variety of projection options. Data can be subset to obtain only the bands that are needed.
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Giovanni
NASA’s Giovanni is an online application for the display and analysis of geophysical parameters. There are many options for analysis. For more information on choosing a type of plot, see the Giovanni User Manual. Note: An Earthdata Login is required for full Giovanni functionality.
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Single parameter analysis options include:
Lat–Lon map of time-averaged data
Map of a shaped region, such as country, watershed
Time-series of bounding box area-averaged data
Time-series of a shaped area-averaged data (country or watershed)
Hovmöllerdiagram/cross section map
Histogram
Vertical profile, cross-section map
Zonal mean
Animations of Lat–Lon map over time
Multi-year monthly averaged
Interannual Monthly or seasonal mean
Calculate accumulation (such as precipitation)
Multi-parameter analysis options include:
Scatter plots with regression statistics
Temporal correlation maps
Lat–Lon map overlain with 2nd parameter contour plot
Data recipe for downloading a Giovanni map as netCDF and converting its data to quantifiable map data in the form of latitude-longitude-data value ASCII text
Provides WMS and WCS to other web servers to get maps or data from Giovanni
USGS EarthExplorer
EarthExplorer is a complete search and order tool for aerial photos, elevation data, and satellite products (including the Landsat Data Collection, as well as ASTER data, ASTER GDEM and other products) distributed by the USGS. This online search, discovery, and ordering tool connects users with satellite, aircraft, and other remote sensing inventories through interactive and textual-based query capabilities. These data are available for download at no cost to registered users. Users may register for a USGS account via the "Register" link on the EarthExplorer main page.
LandsatLook is an online tool to access, download, and export customize mosaics of USGS Landsat Collection 2 data via a commercial cloud environment including Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) and Spatio Temporal Asset Catalog (STAC) metadata.
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Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER)
NASA's Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) offers geospatially-enabled meteorology and solar-related parameters formulated for a variety of end user communities. It provides various widgets for mapping, analysis, and data download tools, as well as API services to access the POWER data holdings through custom scripts and scalable applications. The POWER Data Services consists of a series of restful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), geospatial enabled image services, and Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) services. These three service offerings support data discovery, access, and distribution as Analysis Ready Data and as direct application inputs to decision-to-support tools.
The NASA Worldview data visualization application provides the capability to interactively browse more than 1,000 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, which supports time-critical application areas such as wildfire management, air quality measurements, and flood monitoring. Worldview imagery is provided through NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS). Worldview also includes geostationary imagery layers from the GOES-East, GOES-West, and Himawari-8 geostationary satellites that are available at 10-minute increments for the last 30 days.
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Prepare
AppEEARS: Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples
The Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offers a simple and efficient way to access and transform geospatial data from a variety of federal data archives. AppEEARS enables users to subset geospatial datasets using spatial, temporal, and band/layer parameters. Two types of sample requests are available: point samples for geographic coordinates and area samples for spatial areas via vector polygons. Sample requests submitted to AppEEARS provide users not only with data values, but also associated quality data values. Interactive visualizations with summary statistics are provided for each sample within the application, which allow users to preview and interact with their samples before downloading their data. Visit the AppEEARS Getting Started to learn more about workflows, viewing results, interacting with results and downloading requests.
With the Global Subset Tool, users can request a subset for any location on Earth as a GeoTiff and in text format, including interactive time-series plots and more. Users specify a site by entering the site's geographic coordinates and the area surrounding that site, from one pixel up to 201 x 201 km. From the available datasets, users can specify a date and then select from MODIS Sinusoidal Projection or Geographic Lat/Long. Note: An Earthdata Login is required to request data
With the Fixed Sites Subsets Tool, users can download pre-processed subsets for more than 3,000 field and flux tower sites for validation of models and remote sensing products. The goal of the Fixed Sites Subsets Tool is to prepare summaries of selected data products for the community to characterize field sites. It includes sites from networks such as National Ecological Observatory Network, Forest Global Earth Observatory network, Phenology Camera network, and Long Term Ecological Research Network
With the Web Service, users can retrieve subset data (in real-time) for any location, time period, and area programmatically using a REST web service. Web service client and libraries are available in multiple programming languages, allowing integration of subsets into a workflow
NASA Panoply
NetCDF, HDF, GRIB, and other datasets can be viewed using NASA’s Panoply data viewer. Panoply is a cross-platform application that plots geo-referenced and other arrays, and offers additional functionality such as slicing and plotting arrays, combining arrays, and exporting plots and animations. Panoply runs on Macintosh, Windows, Linux and other desktop computers, and requires that your computer has a compatible Java 11 (or later version) JRE or JDK installed.
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With Panoply 5 you can:
Create color contour plots of geo-referenced latitude-longitude, latitude-vertical, longitude-vertical, time-latitude or time-vertical arrays sliced from 2D or larger multidimensional variables
Create color contour plots of "generic" 2D arrays from 2D or larger multidimensional variables
Create line plots of data from 1D or larger multidimensional variables
Combine two geo-referenced arrays in one plot by differencing, summing or averaging
Create map plots of trajectory data based on the CF convention or similar
Plot lon-lat data on a global or regional map using any of over 200 map projections or make a zonal average line plot
Overlay continent outlines or masks on lon-lat map plots
Use any of numerous color tables for the scale colorbar, or apply your own custom ACT, CPT, or RGB color table
Save plots to disk GIF, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF bitmap images or as PDF or PostScript graphics files
Export lon-lat map plots in KMZ format
Open remote netCDF and HDF dataset stored on an HTTP/HTTPS website or in an S3 bucket
Explore remote THREDDS and OPeNDAP catalogs and open datasets served from them
Export animations as MP4 video or as a collection of individual frame images
AeroStat is an online environment for the direct statistical intercomparison of global aerosol parameters in which data provenance and data quality can be readily accessed by scientists. Users can easily visualize and analyze statistical properties of atmospheric aerosol events, including data collected from multiple sensors and quality assurance (QA) properties of these data.
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NOAA AerosolWatch
The AerosolWatch tool provides near real-time satellite information and is useful for air quality forecasting. Users may select specific dates and parameters including smoke and fire and aerosol optical depth, as well as true color, TROPOMI, and GOES imagery.The aerosol data are column data from satellites that can complement ground-based data or be compared with other column data. Data are offered as imagery in static image files ( .png) or animated .gif files. Users cannot download data from this site and data are only available for the United States.
Air Quality Analytic Collaborative Framework (AQACF) Data Mapping Tool
The AQACF Data Mapping Tool is a web-based platform that provides access to NASA-JPL satellite data products related to air quality, including aerosol optical depth, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. The tool allows users to view and download data, as well as create custom visualizations and maps for analysis and research. It also provides access to data from ground-based monitoring networks and other sources, allowing for comprehensive analysis of air quality across regions and over time.
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Air Quality and Climate Anomaly Viewer
The Air Quality and Climate Anomaly Viewer allows users to interact with data and swipe maps over two time stamps or two parameters over a location. Monthly air quality parameters, including Tropospheric NO2 vertical column density (OMNO2d v003) and Ozone Total Column (OMDOAO3e v003) from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Average Aerosol Optical Depth Analysis (M2IMNXGAS v5.12.4) from MERRA-2 in the most recent year (2020), are compared with 10 year monthly averages. Monthly temperature and precipitation anomaly data from NASA’s Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) precipitation early run data product and Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) surface temperature measurements allow users to view global climate anomalies.
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AIRS Browse Tool
The AIRS Applications Browse Tool was created to display imagery created by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite along with select imagery from other NASA missions. The tool pulls imagery archived in NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) system. GIBS provides quick access to NASA satellite image products covering every part of the world, with many products are available within 3-5 hours of observation.
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ClimateSERV
The ClimateSERV data visualization tool enables users to visualize and download historical rainfall data, vegetation condition data, and 180-day forecasts of rainfall and temperature, all of which can contribute to air quality. ClimateSERV offers an API for those who wish to incorporate their data into a separate application or script.
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Giovanni
NASA’s Giovanni is an online application for the display and analysis of geophysical parameters. There are many options for analysis. For more information on choosing a type of plot, see the Giovanni User Manual. Note: An Earthdata Login is required for full Giovanni functionality.
Image
Single parameter analysis options include:
Lat–Lon map of time-averaged data
Map of a shaped region, such as country, watershed
Time-series of bounding box area-averaged data
Time-series of a shaped area-averaged data (country or watershed)
Hovmöllerdiagram/cross section map
Histogram
Vertical profile, cross-section map
Zonal mean
Animations of Lat–Lon map over time
Multi-year monthly averaged
Interannual Monthly or seasonal mean
Calculate accumulation (such as precipitation)
Multi-parameter analysis options include:
Scatter plots with regression statistics
Temporal correlation maps
Lat–Lon map overlain with 2nd parameter contour plot
Data recipe for downloading a Giovanni map as NetCDF and converting its data to quantifiable map data in the form of latitude-longitude-data value ASCII text
Provides WMS and WCS to other web servers to get maps or data from Giovanni
MERLIN
The MISR Enhanced Research and Lookup Interface (MERLIN) is an online aerosol plume visualization and analysis tool. For more information, see the MERLIN Help Guide.
Parameters featured:
Single Scattering Albedo (unitless quantity)
Median Plume Height Above Terrain (m)
Fire Radiative Power (kW)
Aerosol Optical Depth (unitless quantity)
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OpenAQ Explorer
The OpenAQ Explorer is an interactive web application for exploring the OpenAQ database. OpenAQ is the world’s largest free and open-source platform for ground-level ambient air quality data. OpenAQ searches and scrapes hundreds of data sources to extract and store data. OpenAQ gathers physical measurements, not aggregated values such as Air Quality Indexes (AQIs). For programmatic users, the best way to access data on the OpenAQ platform is through the OpenAQ REST API. The API allows programmatic and queryable access to the OpenAQ database.
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Panoply
NetCDF, HDF, GRIB, and other datasets can be viewed using NASA’s Panoply data viewer. Panoply is a cross-platform application that plots geo-referenced and other arrays, and offers additional functionality such as slicing and plotting arrays, combining arrays, and exporting plots and animations. Panoply runs on Macintosh, Windows, Linux and other desktop computers, and requires that your computer has a compatible Java 11 (or later version) JRE or JDK installed.
Image
With Panoply 5 you can:
Create color contour plots of geo-referenced latitude-longitude, latitude-vertical, longitude-vertical, time-latitude or time-vertical arrays sliced from 2D or larger multidimensional variables
Create color contour plots of "generic" 2D arrays from 2D or larger multidimensional variables
Create line plots of data from 1D or larger multidimensional variables
Combine two geo-referenced arrays in one plot by differencing, summing or averaging
Create map plots of trajectory data based on the CF convention or similar
Plot lon-lat data on a global or regional map using any of over 200 map projections or make a zonal average line plot
Overlay continent outlines or masks on lon-lat map plots
Use any of numerous color tables for the scale colorbar, or apply your own custom ACT, CPT, or RGB color table
Save plots to disk GIF, JPEG, PNG, or TIFF bitmap images or as PDF or PostScript graphics files
Export lon-lat map plots in KMZ format
Open remote netCDF and HDF dataset stored on an HTTP/HTTPS website or in an S3 bucket
Explore remote THREDDS and OPeNDAP catalogs and open datasets served from them
Export animations as MP4 video or as a collection of individual frame images
NASA's Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) offers geospatially-enabled meteorology and solar-related parameters formulated for a variety of end user communities. It provides various widgets for mapping, analysis, and data download tools, as well as API services to access the POWER data holdings through custom scripts and scalable applications. The POWER Data Services consists of a series of restful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), geospatial enabled image services, and Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) services. These three service offerings support data discovery, access, and distribution as Analysis Ready Data and as direct application inputs to decision-to-support tools.
The Population Estimation Service (PES) is a web-based service for estimating population totals, basic demographic characteristics, and related statistics within a user-defined region. It enables users of a wide variety of map clients and tools to quickly obtain estimates of the number of people residing in specific areas without having to download and analyze large amounts of spatial data. The PES may also be accessed through other online map clients or Geographic Information System (GIS) software packages if they support spatial queries through one of the three supported protocols. The service descriptions for each protocol are available at:
The Soil Moisture Visualizer integrates a variety of North American soil moisture datasets. The visualization tool incorporates in-situ, airborne, and remote sensing data into one easy-to-use platform. This integration helps to validate and calibrate the data and provides spatial and temporal data continuity. It also facilitates exploratory analysis and data discovery for different groups of users. The Soil Moisture Visualizer offers the capability to geographically subset and download time series data in .csv format. For more information on the available datasets and use of the visualizer, view the Soil Moisture Visualizer Guide.
To use the visualizer, select a dataset of interest under Data. Depending on the dataset chosen, the visualizer provides the included latitude/longitude or an actual site location name and relative time frames of data collection. Upon selecting a parameter, the tool displays a time series with available datasets. All measurements are volumetric soil moisture. Surface soil moisture is the daily average of measurements at 0-5 cm depth and root zone soil moisture (RZSM) is the daily average of measurements at 0-100 cm depth. The visualizer also provides data sources for download.
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The Soil Moisture Visualizer allows users to compare soil moisture measurements from multiple sources at the same location. In this screenshot, Level 4 Root Zone Soil Moisture (L4 RZSM) data acquired by NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite are shown with data from in situ sensors across the 9-kilometer Equal-Area Scalable Earth (EASE) grid cell encompassing the Tonzi Ranch Fluxnet site in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, USA. Daily precipitation values for the site (purple spikes) are also provided for reference. Credit: NASA's ORNL DAAC.
NASA Worldview
The NASA Worldview data visualization application provides the capability to interactively browse more than 1,000 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, which supports time-critical application areas such as wildfire management, air quality measurements, and flood monitoring. Worldview imagery is provided through NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS). Worldview also includes geostationary imagery layers from the GOES-East, GOES-West, and Himawari-8 geostationary satellites that are available at 10-minute increments for the last 30 days.
AppEEARS: Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples
The Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offers a simple and efficient way to access and transform geospatial data from a variety of federal data archives. AppEEARS enables users to subset geospatial datasets using spatial, temporal, and band/layer parameters. Two types of sample requests are available: point samples for geographic coordinates and area samples for spatial areas via vector polygons. Sample requests submitted to AppEEARS provide users not only with data values, but also associated quality data values. Interactive visualizations with summary statistics are provided for each sample within the application, which allow users to preview and interact with their samples before downloading their data. Visit the AppEEARS Getting Started to learn more about workflows, viewing the results, interacting with the results and downloading the requests.
ClimateSERV
The ClimateSERV data visualization tool enables users to visualize and download historical rainfall data, vegetation condition data, and 180-day forecasts of rainfall and temperature, all of which can contribute to air quality. ClimateSERV offers an API for those who wish to incorporate their data into a separate application or script.
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NASA Earthdata Search
Earthdata Search is NASA's tool for searching for and discovering NASA Earth science data as well as relevant data available through U.S. and international agencies. Users can search for and read about data collections, search for data files by date and spatial area, preview browse images, and download or submit requests for data files, with customization for select data collections. Note: An Earthdata Login is required to download data.
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In the project area (for some datasets) users can customize granules. Users can reformat the data and output as HDF, netCDF, ASCII, KML, or a GeoTIFF and can choose from a variety of projection options. Data can be subset to obtain only the bands that are needed.
Image
Giovanni
NASA’s Giovanni is an online application for the display and analysis of geophysical parameters. There are many options for analysis. For more information on choosing a type of plot, see the Giovanni User Manual. Note: An Earthdata Login is required for full Giovanni functionality.
Image
Single parameter analysis options include:
Lat–Lon map of time-averaged data
Map of a shaped region, such as country, watershed
Time-series of bounding box area-averaged data
Time-series of a shaped area-averaged data (country or watershed)
Hovmöllerdiagram/cross section map
Histogram
Vertical profile, cross-section map
Zonal mean
Animations of Lat–Lon map over time
Multi-year monthly averaged
Interannual Monthly or seasonal mean
Calculate accumulation (such as precipitation)
Multi-parameter analysis options include:
Scatter plots with regression statistics
Temporal correlation maps
Lat–Lon map overlain with 2nd parameter contour plot
Data recipe for downloading a Giovanni map as NetCDF and converting its data to quantifiable map data in the form of latitude-longitude-data value ASCII text
Provides WMS and WCS to other web servers to get maps or data from Giovanni
Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER)
NASA's Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) offers geospatially-enabled meteorology and solar-related parameters formulated for the agroclimatology community. It provides various widgets for mapping, analysis, and data download tools, as well as API services to access the POWER data holdings through custom scripts and scalable applications. The POWER Data Services consists of a series of restful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), geospatial enabled image services, and Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) services. These three service offerings support data discovery, access, and distribution as Analysis Ready Data and as direct application inputs to decision-to-support tools.
The Soil Moisture Visualizer integrates a variety of North American soil moisture datasets. The visualization tool incorporates in-situ, airborne, and remote sensing data into one easy-to-use platform. This integration helps to validate and calibrate the data and provides spatial and temporal data continuity. It also facilitates exploratory analysis and data discovery for different groups of users. The Soil Moisture Visualizer offers the capability to geographically subset and download time series data in .csv format. For more information on the available datasets and use of the visualizer, view the Soil Moisture Visualizer Guide.
To use the visualizer, select a dataset of interest under Data. Depending on the dataset chosen, the visualizer provides the included latitude/longitude or an actual site location name and relative time frames of data collection. Upon selecting a parameter, the tool displays a time series with available datasets. All measurements are volumetric soil moisture. Surface soil moisture is the daily average of measurements at 0-5 cm depth and root zone soil moisture (RZSM) is the daily average of measurements at 0-100 cm depth. The visualizer also provides data sources for download.
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The Soil Moisture Visualizer allows users to compare soil moisture measurements from multiple sources at the same location. Credit: NASA's ORNL DAAC.
USGS EarthExplorer
EarthExplorer is a complete search and order tool for aerial photos, elevation data and satellite products (including the Landsat Data Collection, as well as ASTER data, ASTER GDEM and other products) distributed by the USGS. This online search, discovery, and ordering tool connects users with satellite, aircraft, and other remote sensing inventories through interactive and textual-based query capabilities. These products are available for download at no cost to registered users. Users may register for a USGS account via the "Register" link on the EarthExplorer main page.
Air Quality Analytic Collaborative Framework (AQACF) Data Mapping Tool
The AQACF Data Mapping Tool is a web-based platform that provides access to NASA-JPL satellite data products related to air quality, including aerosol optical depth, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. The tool allows users to view and download data, as well as create custom visualizations and maps for analysis and research. It also provides access to data from ground-based monitoring networks and other sources, allowing for comprehensive analysis of air quality across regions and over time.
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AERONET Data Synergy Tool
The AERONET Data Synergy Tool allows users to access Earth science data sets from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites. The tool provides access to ground-based (AERONET and Micro-Pulse Lidar Network [MPLNET]), satellite (MODIS, SeaWiFS, TOMS, and OMI) and model (GOCART and back trajectory analyses) databases via one web portal. Users can access these data sources to obtain properties such as the optical depth, composition, absorption, size, spatial and vertical distribution, and source region of aerosols.
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AeroStat
AeroStat is an online environment for the direct statistical intercomparison of global aerosol parameters to enable data provenance and data quality assessments. Users can easily visualize and analyze statistical properties of atmospheric aerosol events, including data collected from multiple sensors and quality assurance (QA) properties of these data. The AeroStat help page provides a detailed AeroStat how-to.
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ClimateSERV
The ClimateSERV data visualization tool enables users to visualize and download historical rainfall data, vegetation condition data, and 180-day forecasts of rainfall and temperature, all of which can contribute to air quality. ClimateSERV offers an API for those who wish to incorporate their data into a separate application or script.
Image
Giovanni
NASA’s Giovanni is an online application for the display and analysis of geophysical parameters. There are many options for analysis. For more information on choosing a type of plot, see the Giovanni User Manual. Note: An Earthdata Login is required for full Giovanni functionality.
Image
Single parameter analysis options include:
Lat–Lon map of time-averaged data
Map of a shaped region, such as country, watershed
Time-series of bounding box area-averaged data
Time-series of a shaped area-averaged data (country or watershed)
Hovmöllerdiagram/cross section map
Histogram
Vertical profile, cross-section map
Zonal mean
Animations of Lat–Lon map over time
Multi-year monthly averaged
Interannual Monthly or seasonal mean
Calculate accumulation (such as precipitation)
Multi-parameter analysis options include:
Scatter plots with regression statistics
Temporal correlation maps
Lat–Lon map overlain with 2nd parameter contour plot
Data recipe for downloading a Giovanni map as NetCDF and converting its data to quantifiable map data in the form of latitude-longitude-data value ASCII text
Provides WMS and WCS to other web servers to get maps or data from Giovanni
MERLIN
The MISR Enhanced Research and Lookup Interface (MERLIN) is an online aerosol plume visualization and analysis tool. For more information, see the MERLIN Help Guide.
Parameters featured in this tool:
Median Plume Height Above Terrain (m)
Fire Radiative Power (kW)
Aerosol Optical Depth (unitless quantity)
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Panoply
NetCDF, HDF, GRIB, and other datasets can be viewed using NASA’s Panoply data viewer. Panoply is a cross-platform application that plots geo-referenced and other arrays, and offers additional functionality such as slicing and plotting arrays, combining arrays, and exporting plots and animations. Panoply runs on Macintosh, Windows, Linux and other desktop computers, and requires that your computer has a compatible Java 11 (or later version) JRE or JDK installed.
Image
With Panoply 5 you can:
Create color contour plots of geo-referenced latitude-longitude, latitude-vertical, longitude-vertical, time-latitude or time-vertical arrays sliced from 2D or larger multidimensional variables
Create color contour plots of "generic" 2D arrays from 2D or larger multidimensional variables
Create line plots of data from 1D or larger multidimensional variables
Combine two geo-referenced arrays in one plot by differencing, summing or averaging
Create map plots of trajectory data based on the CF convention or similar
Plot lon-lat data on a global or regional map using any of over 200 map projections or make a zonal average line plot
Overlay continent outlines or masks on lon-lat map plots
Use any of numerous color tables for the scale colorbar, or apply your own custom ACT, CPT, or RGB color table
Save plots to disk GIF, JPEG, PNG or TIFF bitmap images or as PDF or PostScript graphics files
Export lon-lat map plots in KMZ format
Open remote netCDF and HDF dataset stored on an HTTP/HTTPS website or in an S3 bucket
Explore remote THREDDS and OPenDAP catalogs and open datasets served from them
Export animations as MP4 video or as a collection of individual frame images
NASA's Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) offers geospatially-enabled meteorology and solar-related parameters formulated for the agroclimatology community. It provides various widgets for mapping, analysis, and data download tools, as well as API services to access the POWER data holdings through custom scripts and scalable applications. The POWER Data Services consists of a series of restful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), geospatial enabled image services, and Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) services. These three service offerings support data discovery, access, and distribution as Analysis Ready Data and as direct application inputs to decision-to-support tools.
The Population Estimation Service (PES) is a web-based service for estimating population totals, basic demographic characteristics, and related statistics within a user-defined region. It enables users of a wide variety of map clients and tools to quickly obtain estimates of the number of people residing in specific areas without having to download and analyze large amounts of spatial data. The PES may also be accessed through other online map clients or Geographic Information System (GIS) software packages if they support spatial queries through one of the three supported protocols. The service descriptions for each protocol are available at:
The ClimateSERV data visualization tool enables users to visualize and download historical rainfall data, vegetation condition data, and 180-day forecasts of rainfall and temperature, all of which can contribute to air quality. ClimateSERV offers an API for those who wish to incorporate their data into a separate application or script.
Image
Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER)
NASA's Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) offers geospatially-enabled meteorology and solar-related parameters formulated for a variety of end user communities. It provides various widgets for mapping, analysis, and data download tools, as well as API services to access the POWER data holdings through custom scripts and scalable applications. The POWER Data Services consists of a series of restful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), geospatial enabled image services, and Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP) services. These three service offerings support data discovery, access, and distribution as Analysis Ready Data and as direct application inputs to decision-to-support tools.
The NASA Worldview data visualization application provides the capability to interactively browse more than 1,000 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, which supports time-critical application areas such as wildfire management, air quality measurements, and flood monitoring. Worldview imagery is provided through NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS). Worldview also includes geostationary imagery layers from the GOES-East, GOES-West, and Himawari-8 geostationary satellites that are available at 10-minute increments for the last 30 days.
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Earthdata Developer Portal
The Earthdata Developer Portal is for application developers who wish to build applications that search, access, and browse EOSDIS-hosted Earth science data. It is the central location for all publicly accessible developer documentation related to EOSDIS enterprise services and applications.
NOTE: Additional resources for developers are available in this Data Pathfinder in the Use the Data sections of each parameter under Programming Tools. These sections feature toolkits, Jupyter Notebooks, APIs, data recipes, and more.
Resources to Apply and Connect NASA Data
Connection of Sustainable Development Goals to Air Quality
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a blueprint for a sustainable future for all of Earth’s inhabitants. The SDGs are part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an international plan signed by all United Nations (UN) member states and underpinned by the foundational components of People, Planet, and Prosperity. NASA Earth observations may assist users in assessing progress towards meeting SDGs 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
SDG Goals are divided into broad Targets that are further divided into Indicators used to track progress toward accomplishing Targets. While NASA datasets are not official indicators for SDG monitoring and decision-making, they provide data necessary to assess progress towards achieving SDG Targets. NASA provides measurements of air quality, land surface reflectance, land cover, population, and other socioeconomic data that provide metrics for tracking progress toward meeting SDG Targets, specifically SDG 3, Target 3.9 and SDG 11 Target 11.6.
SDG
SDG Goals Relevant to Air Quality
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Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Target: Substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination
Indicator: Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution
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Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
Target: Reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
Indicator: Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g., PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted)
The NASA datasets listed in the Find Data section help measure progress toward meeting the above SDG Targets. While not designed to be a complete list of all salient resources available through NASA's Earth science collection, the information about NASA data, products, and services will help you chart a path to finding the information you need.
The Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Communities is an online knowledge resource for countries and cities interested in applying Earth observations to support their SDG 11 monitoring and urban policy planning and implementation needs. Key toolkit components include links to data, tools, and various use cases. The toolkit also aims to facilitate engagement among local communities, cities, national agencies, and Earth observation experts and promote knowledge sharing and collaboration between cities and countries.
AirData Air Quality Monitors
EPA's AirData Air Quality Monitors is a mapping application that displays monitor locations and monitor-specific information. It also allows the querying and downloading of daily data and annual summary data. Map services are available in Google Earth, ArcGIS desktop, ArcGIS JavaScript, ArcGIS Explorer and ArcGIS.com
