The CLIMCAPS (Community Long-term Infrared Microwave Coupled Product System) algorithm is used to analyze data from the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instrument aboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) polar-orbiting platform, EOS Aqua. This file contains the fixed Pressure Level product (PLEV) variables derived from the CLIMCAPS algorithm using data. They include including gas mixing ratio profiles, column totals, surface values, tropopause properties, and relative humidity, together with per-field quality flagging. The profiles are specified at the surface and layer boundaries and are estimated from layer amounts using the L2 algorithm
An AIRS 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.
The CLIMCAPS algorithm uses data from the second Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) as a first-guess for the atmospheric state. Because MERRA-2 products typically have a latency from 3 to 7 weeks, so too do the CLIMCAPS products.