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Description

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a grating spectrometer (R = 1200) aboard the second Earth Observing System (EOS) polar-orbiting platform, EOS Aqua. In combination with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB), AIRS constitutes an innovative atmospheric sounding group of visible, infrared, and microwave sensors. This product is similar to AIRX2RET. It is a new product produced using AIRS IR only because the radiometric noise in AMSU channel 4 started to increase significantly (since June 2007). 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. Estimates of the errors associated with these quantities is also part of the Standard Product. The temperature profile vertical resolution is 28 levels total between 1100 mb and 0.1 mb, while moisture profile is reported at 14 atmospheric layers between 1100 mb and 50 mb. The horizontal resolution is 50 km. 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.

Product Summary

Platforms
Aqua
Instruments
AIRS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
50 Kilometers x 50 Kilometers
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2002-08-30 to Present
Data Partner
Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (formerly Goddard DAAC), Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDI
Concept ID
C1243477381-GES_DISC
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
2038651
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Air Temperature ,
Carbon Monoxide ,
Cloud Fraction ,
Cloud Height ,
Cloud Top Pressure ,
Cloud Top Temperature ,
Cloud Vertical Distribution ,
Emissivity ,
Geopotential Height ,
Methane ,
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ,
Atmospheric Ozone ,
Total Precipitable Water ,
Sea Surface Temperature ,
Surface Pressure ,
Skin Temperature ,
Surface Temperature ,
Sulfur Dioxide ,
Tropopause ,
Tropospheric Ozone ,
Upper Air Temperature ,
Water Vapor Profiles ,
Cloud Liquid Water/Ice

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

AIRS Science Team, & Texeira, J. (2013). Aqua AIRS L2 standard retrieval product using AIRS IR-only V6 [Data set]. NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/AQUA/AIRS/DATA202 Date Accessed: 2026-04-30

Documents

READ-ME

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
Meteorological to agricultural drought transitions compounded by heat waves in historical and future climates Short Gianotti, Daniel J., Gannon, Meriah J., Entekhabi, Dara Brightness Temperature, Surface Soil Moisture, Tropopause, Surface Pressure, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Sea Surface Temperature, Skin Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Geopotential Height, Humidity, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Tropospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Temperature, Cloud Fraction
Evaluation of Near-Surface Specific Humidity and Air Temperature From Qian, Weikang, Wen, Yixin, Gao, Shang, Li, Zhi, Kisembe, Jesse, Jing, Haotong Carbon Monoxide, Tropospheric Ozone, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature
A Gradient Boosting Decision Tree Based Correction Model for AIRS Xu, Jiafei, Liu, Zhizhao Carbon Monoxide, Tropospheric Ozone, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature
GroundValidation and Error Attribution of NearSurface Air Temperature From AIRS in North America Gao, Shang, Wen, Yixin, Fishbein, Evan, Lambrigtsen, Bjorn, Zhang, Jiaqi, Van Dang, H., Galli, Chris Carbon Monoxide, Tropospheric Ozone, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature
Comprehensive Evaluation and Comparison of AIRS, VASS, and VIRR Water Fan, Rongfeng, Zeng, Zhaoliang, Wang, Xin, Zhang, Lei, Cheng, Wei, Ding, Minghu Carbon Monoxide, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Humidity, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature, Tropospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Temperature, Cloud Fraction
PWV Retrieval Performance Evaluation for the Fresh BDS-3 With Jiang, Nan, Gao, Zhaorui, Wu, Yuhao, Xu, Yan, Xu, Tianhe, Li, Song, Guo, Ao Carbon Monoxide, Tropospheric Ozone, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature
Two decades of temperature and specific humidity variance scaling with the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Kahn, Brian H., Fetzer, Eric J., Teixeira, Joao, Yue, Qing Carbon Monoxide, Tropospheric Ozone, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature, Sea Level Pressure, Vertical Profiles, Specific Humidity, U/V Wind Components, U/V Wind Components, Ozone Profiles, Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Atmospheric Temperature, Skin Temperature, Layered Precipitable Water, Precipitation Rate
Performance assessment of weighted mean temperature models derived from AIRS and ERA5 reanalysis for calculating GPS precipitable water vapor in the thailand ... Charoenphon, Chaiyut, Trakolkul, Chokchai, Satirapod, Chalermchon Carbon Monoxide, Tropospheric Ozone, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature
Contribution of the satellite-data driven snow routine to a karst hydrological model Call, Suleyman Selim, Call, Kubra Ozdemir, Tugrul Ylmaz, M., Celik, Mehmet Carbon Monoxide, Tropospheric Ozone, Geopotential Height, Tropopause, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, Surface Pressure, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Temperature, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Humidity, Evapotranspiration, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Temperature, Land Surface Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff, Ground Water
A 1-km hourly air-temperature model for 13 northeastern US states using remotely sensed and ground-based measurements Carrion, Daniel, Arfer, Kodi B., Rush, Johnathan, Dorman, Michael, Rowland, Sebastian T., Kioumourtzoglou, Marianthi-Anna, Kloog, Itai, Just, Allan C. Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Skin Temperature, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Land Surface Temperature, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Evaluation of Total Ozone Column from Multiple Satellite Measurements in the Antarctic Using the Brewer Spectrophotometer Kim, Songkang, Park, Sang-Jong, Lee, Hana, Ahn, Dha, Jung, Yeonjin, Choi, Taejin, Lee, Bang, Kim, Seong-Joong, Koo, Ja-Ho Tropopause, Surface Pressure, Air Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Total Precipitable Water, Water Vapor, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Sea Surface Temperature, Skin Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Geopotential Height, Humidity, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Methane, Atmospheric Ozone, Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Atmospheric Ozone, Reflectance, Cloud Fraction, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropospheric Ozone
Air pollution trends measured from Terra: CO and AOD over industrial, fire-prone, and background regions Buchholz, Rebecca R., Worden, Helen M., Park, Mijeong, Francis, Gene, Deeter, Merritt N., Edwards, David P., Emmons, Louisa K., Gaubert, Benjamin, Gille, John, Martinez-Alonso, Sara, Tang, Wenfu, Kumar, Rajesh, Drummond, James R., Clerbaux, Cathy, George, Maya, Coheur, Pierre-Francois, Hurtmans, Daniel, Bowman, Kevin W., Luo, Ming, Payne, Vivienne H., Worden, John R., Chin, Mian, Levy, Robert C., Warner, Juying, Wei, Zigang, Kulawik, Susan S. Brightness Temperature, Infrared Radiance, Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Skin Temperature, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Optical Depth/Thickness, Carbon Monoxide Profiles, Carbon Monoxide Surface, Aerosol Backscatter, Aerosol Extinction, Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Angstrom Exponent, Aerosol Particle Properties, Aerosol Radiance, Carbonaceous Aerosols, Cloud Condensation Nuclei, Dust/Ash/Smoke, Nitrate Particles, Organic Particles, Particulate Matter, Sulfate Particles, Trace Gases/Trace Species, Atmospheric Emitted Radiation, Emissivity, Optical Depth/Thickness, Radiative Flux, Reflectance, Transmittance, Atmospheric Stability, Humidity, Cloud Condensation Nuclei, Cloud Droplet Concentration/Size, Cloud Asymmetry, Cloud Ceiling, Cloud Frequency, Cloud Emissivity, Cloud Radiative Forcing, Cloud Reflectance, Rain Storms
A systematic assessment of water vapor products in the Arctic: from instantaneous measurements to monthly means Crewell, Susanne, Ebell, Kerstin, Konjari, Patrick, Mech, Mario, Nomokonova, Tatiana, Radovan, Ana, Strack, David, Triana-Gomez, Arantxa M., Noel, Stefan, Scarlat, Raul, Spreen, Gunnar, Maturilli, Marion, Rinke, Annette, Gorodetskaya, Irina, Viceto, Carolina, August, Thomas, Schroder, Marc Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Skin Temperature, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Sea Level Pressure, U/V Wind Components, U/V Wind Components, Potential Vorticity, Vertical Wind Velocity/Speed, Vertical Profiles, Relative Humidity, Specific Humidity, Atmospheric Water Vapor, Altitude, Ozone Profiles, Humidity
Biomass Burning Over the United States East Coast and Western North Atlantic Ocean: Implications for Clouds and Air Quality Mardi, Ali Hossein, Dadashazar, Hossein, Painemal, David, Shingler, Taylor, Seaman, Shane T., Fenn, Marta A., Hostetler, Chris A., Sorooshian, Armin Aerosols, Aerosol Extinction, Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Angstrom Exponent, Aerosol Particle Properties, Carbonaceous Aerosols, Dust/Ash/Smoke, Organic Particles, Sulfate Particles, Sulfur Oxides, Sulfur Compounds, Sulfate, Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfur Oxides, Particulate Matter, Dimethyl Sulfide, Black Carbon, Sea Salt, PARTICULATE MATTER (PM 2.5), PARTICULATE MATTER (PM 1.0), PARTICULATE MATTER (PM 10), Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Skin Temperature, Surface Temperature, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Aerosol Extinction, Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness
Precipitable Water Vapor Retrieval from Shipborne GNSS Observations on Sohn, Dong-Hyo, Choi, Byung-Kyu, Park, Yosup, Kim, Yoon Chil, Ku, Bonhwa Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Skin Temperature, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice
The Carbon Cycle Influence on Tornadoes Vegetation Water Content, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Skin Temperature, Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, VEGETATION PRODUCTIVITY, Brightness Temperature
Inter-comparison of integrated water vapor from satellite instruments using reference GPS data at the Iberian Peninsula Vaquero-Martinez, Javier, Anton, Manuel, Ortiz de Galisteo, Jose Pablo, Cachorro, Victoria E., Alvarez-Zapatero, Pablo, Roman, Roberto, Loyola, Diego, Costa, Maria Joao, Wang, Huiquin, Abad, Gonzalo Gonzalez, Noel, Stefan Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Skin Temperature, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice
An A-train and MERRA view of cloud, thermodynamic, and dynamic variability within the subtropical marine boundary layer Kahn, Brian H., Matheou, Georgios, Yue, Qing, Fauchez, Thomas, Fetzer, Eric J., Lebsock, Matthew, Martins, Joao, Schreier, Mathias M., Suzuki, Kentaroh, Teixeira, Joao Air Temperature, Carbon Monoxide, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Height, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Emissivity, Geopotential Height, Methane, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Atmospheric Ozone, Total Precipitable Water, Sea Surface Temperature, Surface Pressure, Skin Temperature, Surface Temperature, Sulfur Dioxide, Tropopause, Tropospheric Ozone, Upper Air Temperature, Water Vapor Profiles, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice
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