TES/Aura L2 Ancillary Product V007

TL2ANC_7 is the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)/Aura Level 2 Ancillary Version 7 product . TES Level 2 data contain retrieved species (or temperature) profiles at the observation targets and the estimated errors. TES was an instrument aboard NASA's Aura satellite and was launched from California on July 15, 2004. Data collection for TES is complete. For this product, the geolocation, quality, and other data (e.g., surface characteristics for nadir observations) were also provided. L2 modeled spectra were evaluated using radiative transfer modeling algorithms. The process, referred to as retrieval, compared observed spectra to the modeled spectra and iteratively updates the atmospheric parameters. L2 standard product files include information for one molecular species (or temperature) for an entire global survey or special observation run.

A global survey consisted of a maximum of 16 consecutive orbits. A Nadir sequence within the TES Global Survey was a fixed number of observations within an orbit for a Global Survey. Prior to April 24, 2005, it consisted of two low resolution scans over the same ground locations. After April 24, 2005, Global Survey data consisted of three low resolution scans. The Nadir standard product consisted of four files, where each file was composed of the Global Survey Nadir observations from one of four focal planes for a single orbit, i.e. 72 orbit sequences. The Global Survey Nadir observations only used a single set of filter mix. A Global Survey consisted of observations along 16 consecutive orbits at the start of a two day cycle, over which 3,200 retrievals were performed. Each observation was the input for retrievals of species Volume Mixing Ratios (VMR), temperature profiles, surface temperature and other data parameters with associated pressure levels, precision, total error, vertical resolution, total column density and other diagnostic quantities.

Each TES Level 2 standard product reported information in a swath format conforming to the HDF-EOS Aura File Format Guidelines. Each Swath object was bounded by the number of observations in a global survey and a predefined set of pressure levels, representing slices through the atmosphere. Each standard product could have had a variable number of observations depending upon the Global Survey configuration and whether averaging is employed. Also, missing or bad retrievals were not reported. The organization of data within the Swath object was based on a superset of the UARS pressure levels used to report concentrations of trace atmospheric gases. The reporting grid was the same pressure grid used for modeling. There were 67 reporting levels from 1211.53 hPa, which allowed for very high surface pressure conditions, to 0.1 hPa, about 65 km. In addition, the products reported values directly at the surface when possible or at the observed cloud top level. Thus, in the Standard Product files each observation could have contained estimates for the concentration of a particular molecule at 67 different pressure levels within the atmosphere. However, for most retrieved profiles, the highest pressure levels were not observed due to a surface at lower pressure or cloud obscuration. For pressure levels corresponding to altitudes below the cloud top or surface, where measurements were not possible, a fill value was applied.

To minimize the duplication of information between the individual species standard products, data fields common to each species (such as spacecraft coordinates, emissivity, and other data fields) have been collected into a separate standard product, termed the TES L2 Ancillary Data product (ESDT short name: TL2ANC).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer SCOTT GLUCK
Last Updated April 23, 2025, 11:07 PM (UTC+00:00)
Created April 23, 2025, 11:07 PM (UTC+00:00)
accessLevel public
bureauCode 026:00
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catalog_@id https://data.nasa.gov/data.json
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citation 2017-10-17. Archived by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Government, NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC. https://doi.org/10.5067/AURA/TES/TL2ANC_L2.007. https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/TES.
harvest_object_id 61605bbc-a5cc-429d-b94e-10150b3e9b0a
harvest_source_id 61638e72-b36c-4866-9d28-551a3062f158
harvest_source_title DNG Legacy Data
identifier C1331182629-LARC
issued 2015-08-27
landingPage https://doi.org/10.5067/AURA/TES/TL2ANC_L2.007
language en-US
metadata_type geospatial
modified 2019-06-19
programCode 026:001
publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
resource-type Dataset
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source_hash 1f80ad95614b64ae99eac662e921e48d3d39a8297ac6a525f6e0addf4eb71e8d
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial -180.0 -90.0 180.0 90.0
temporal 2004-08-22T00:00:00Z/2018-01-22T23:59:59Z
theme TES,geospatial