Sounder SIPS: AQUA AIRS IR-only Level 3 CLIMCAPS: Comprehensive Quality Control Gridded Monthly V2 (SNDRAQIL3CMCCP) at GES DISC

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 Standard 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. This monthly one degree latitude by one degree longitude level-3 product starts with level-2 retrieval products applying the comprehensive quality control (QC) methodology. Comprehensive QC accepts a retrieval if the profile is good to the surface and ensures consistent analysis across all levels and variables.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated April 21, 2026, 05:35 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 19:11 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 3a08128e-0a09-40cf-afac-b3fde14f00a6
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/ZPZ430KOPMIX
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-04-13T22:16:02Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash bd714ed69f048d1cd8cb42351865388a929a77da032aa744884a3cffb67b1dd9
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN",[{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":90,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-90}]]
temporal 2002-08-31/2026-04-13
theme {"Earth Science"}