Data Products
MOPITT retrievals of carbon monoxide vertical profiles and total column are available for the period starting March 3, 2000 and continuing to the present. There is no operational MOPITT product for methane, due to a variety of problems with the methane-channel radiances. Some of these issues are documented in the 2005 paper "Effects of a spectral surface reflectance on measurements of backscattered solar radiation: Application to the MOPITT methane retrieval" by Pfister et al. (see Publications).
MOPITT Product Versions
Product | Variants | Start Date | End Date | CO State Vector | CO A Priori | Met. Fields | N Retrieval Levels |
V3* | TIR | 2000 | 2009 | VMR | Global (fixed) | NCEP | 7 |
V4* | TIR | 2000 | 2012 | log(VMR) | MOZART | NCEP | 10 |
V5* | TIR,NIR,TIR-NIR | 2000 | 2016 | log(VMR) | MOZART | NCEP | 10 |
V6* | TIR,NIR,TIR-NIR | 2000 | 2017 | log(VMR) | CAM-chem | MERRA | 10 |
V7 | TIR,NIR,TIR-NIR | 2000 | March 2020 | log(VMR) | CAM-chem | MERRA2 | 10 |
V8 | TIR,NIR,TIR-NIR | 2000 | March 2021 | log(VMR) | CAM-chem | MERRA2 | 10 |
V8beta | TIR,NIR,TIR-NIR | April 2021 | present | log(VMR) | CAM-chem | MERRA2 | 10 |
V9 | TIR,NIR,TIR-NIR | 2000 | March 2020 | log(VMR) | CAM-chem | MERRA2 | 10 |
V9beta | TIR,NIR,TIR-NIR | April 2021 | present | log(VMR) | CAM-chem | MERRA2 | 10 |
* no longer available
- Version 9 (V9) Level 2 and Level 3 retrieval products for carbon monoxide (CO) for the years 2000 to 2020 have been released. Separate products are available for Thermal-Infrared only (TIR-only), Near-Infrared only (NIR-only) and Joint (TIR-NIR) retrievals. For V9, revisions to the cloud detection algorithm yield substantially improved retrieval coverage for observations over land. The improved coverage should especially benefit studies of (1) regions with persistent clouds and (2) regions commonly affected by severe pollution (with large values of aerosol optical depth). Details of the revised algorithm and supporting case studies are described in Deeter et al., ‘Impacts of MOPITT cloud detection revisions on observation frequency and mapping of highly polluted scenes’, Remote Sens. Env., vol. 262, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112516, 2021. V9 products also benefit from an improved calibration strategy for MOPITT’s NIR channels. The new NIR calibration strategy results in significantly reduced retrieval bias drift for NIR-only products between annual calibration events. A validation paper for the V9 product is under review at Atmospheric Measurement Techniques and is available here. The V9 User's Guide is available here.
- Version 8 (V8) Level 2 and Level 3 products are now (or will soon be) available for the MOPITT mission with archival products from 3 March 2003 to 22 March 2020 and provisional ("beta") products, subject to recalibration for data acquired since March 2020. Product formats are the same as for V6 and V7, with beta files located in separate directories from archival products. Beta product files are indicated by filenames with a .beta.he5 extension and beta product directory names have the extension '.108'. Archive product directories have the extension '.008'. V8 products have been validated, see Deeter et al., AMT, (2019) on the publications page. See the V8 User's Guide for details of new product features.
- Version 7 (V7) Level 2 and Level 3 archival products are now available for the MOPITT mission through March 2020. Product formats are the same as V6. V7 products are validated with product features and validation results reported in: Deeter, M. N., Edwards, D. P., Francis, G. L., Gille, J. C., Martinez-Alonso, S., Worden, H. M., and Sweeney, C.: A Climate-scale Satellite Record for Carbon Monoxide: The MOPITT Version 7 Product, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2533-2555, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2533-2017, 2017. The V7 User's Guide (updated July 18, 2017) is also available. The parameters included in the V7 Level 2 product are described both in the User's Guide and in a separate table. Errata for the V7 product can be found here.
- Version 6 (V6) Level 2 and Level 3 products are now available for the entire MOPITT mission. Generally, V6 Level 2 and Level 3 products should become available between three weeks and two months after the actual observations; this data latency is the result of the dependency on the MERRA reanalysis. The same three retrieval variants are offered for V6 that were introduced for V5 (i.e., TIR-only, NIR-only, and TIR/NIR products). V6 products are provided in the HDF-EOS5 format, which can not be opened and read with software tools developed for HDF4 files (e.g., MOPITT V4 and V5 products). See the V6 User's Guide (updated Sept. 6, 2013) for more information. V6 products are now validated; new V6 product features and validation results are reported in "The MOPITT Version 6 product: algorithm enhancements and validation," Deeter, M. N., Martínez-Alonso, S., Edwards, D. P., Emmons, L. K., Gille, J. C., Worden, H. M., Sweeney, C., Pittman, J. V., Daube, B. C., and Wofsy, S. C., Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3623-3632, doi:10.5194/amt-7-3623-2014, 2014. See the data product errata page for announcements of issues found in the V6 product.
- Version 5 (V5) Level 2 and Level 3 products for CO vertical profiles and total column are available for the entire MOPITT mission (March, 2000 - present). Three Level 2 retrieval variants are offered for V5: A thermal infrared-only (TIR-only) product, similar to the V4 product; a new near infrared-only (NIR-only) product; and a new joint or multispectral TIR/NIR product. The V5 product is considered validated. V5 validation results are reported in a recent 2013 JGR paper by Deeter et al. V5 products are no longer available.
- Version 4 (V4) products for CO vertical profiles and total column were produced for observations between March, 2000 through December, 2012. The V4 product is considered 'validated.' V4 products are no longer available.
- Version 3 (V3) products for CO vertical profiles and total column were produced for observations between March, 2000 and July, 2009. V3 products are no longer publicly available.
- Version 2 (V2) products were produced only immediately after launch and are no longer publicly available.
Data Access
MOPITT products are publicly available from NASA through the following links:
- Earthdata (V7, V8 and V9, Level 2 and Level 3)
- Giovanni (V8 Level 3)
- ASDC MOPITT Subsetter (V8 Level 2)
- Direct Data Download (V7, V8 and V9, Level 2 and Level 3)
- OPeNDAP Interface
V9 Product Documentation
V9 User's Guide (updated February 3, 2022) | A description of the V9 retrieval algorithm, Level 2 and Level 3 products |
V9 L2 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 9 Level 2 product. |
V9 L3 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 9 Level 3 product. |
V8 Product Documentation
V8 User's Guide (updated December 5, 2018) | A description of the V8 retrieval algorithm, Level 2 and Level 3 products |
V8 L2 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 8 Level 2 product. |
V8 L3 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 8 Level 3 product. |
V7 Product Documentation
V7 User's Guide (updated July 18, 2017) | A description of the V7 retrieval algorithm, Level 2 and Level 3 products |
V7 L2 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 7 Level 2 product. |
V7 L3 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 7 Level 3 product. |
V6 Product Documentation
V6 User's Guide (updated Sept. 6, 2013) | A description of the V6 retrieval algorithm, Level 2 and Level 3 products; users of the V6 product may also need to consult the V4 and V5 User's Guides. |
V6 L2 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 6 Level 2 product. |
V6 L3 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 6 Level 3 product. |
V5 Product Documentation
V5 User's Guide | A detailed description of the V5 retrieval algorithm and Level 2 product. |
V5 L2 Data Quality Summary | Condensed discussion of the properties and limitations of the Version 5 Level 2 product. |
V4 Product Documentation
V4 User's Guide | A detailed description of the V4 retrieval algorithm, Level 2 and Level 3 products. |
V4 L2 Data Quality Summary | Discussion of limitations of the Version 4 Level 2 product. |
V4 L3 Data Quality Summary | Discussion of limitations of the Version 4 Level 3 product. |
ACOM Type
MOPITT