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Description

The Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Version-3 Formaldehyde Product OMHCHO is now available from the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) for the public access. The shortname for this Level-2 OMI total column Formaldehyde product is OMHCHO. The algorithm leads for this product are the US OMI scientists Dr. Kelly Chance and Dr. Thomas Kurosu from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center, Cambridge, MA. The OMHCHO product contains total vertical column HCHO, standard errors (rms and sigma), quality flags, geolocation and other ancillary information.

The OMHCHO files are stored in the version 5 EOS Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS5). Each file contains data from the day lit portion of an orbit (~53 minutes). There are approximately 14 orbits per day. The average file size for the OMHCHO data product is about 5 MB.

Product Summary

Platforms
Aura
Instruments
OMI
Spatial Extent

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

Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2004-10-01 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
C1239966779-GES_DISC
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
111764
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Carbon And Hydrocarbon Compounds

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

Chance, K. (2007). OMI/Aura Formaldehyde (HCHO) Total Column 1-orbit L2 Swath 13x24 km [Data set]. NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/AURA/OMI/DATA2015 Date Accessed: 2025-12-13

Documents

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AirMassFactor Molecule Specific Air Mass Factor (AMF) NoUnits float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AirMassFactorDiagnosticFlag Diagnostic Flag for Molecule Specific AMF NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AirMassFactorGeometric Geometric Air Mass Factor (AMF) NoUnits float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/Albedo Albedo NoUnits float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AMFCloudFraction Adjusted Cloud Fraction for AMF Computation NoUnits float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AMFCloudPressure Adjusted Cloud Pressure for AMF Computation hPa float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AverageColumnAmount Average Column Amount molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AverageColumnUncertainty Average Column Uncertainty molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/AverageFittingRMS Average Fitting RMS NoUnits float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/ClimatologyLevels Climatology Levels hPa float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/ColumnAmount Column Amount molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/ColumnAmountDestriped Column Amount with Destriping Correction molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/ColumnUncertainty Column Uncertainty molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/FitConvergenceFlag Fitting Convergence Flag NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/FittingRMS Fitting RMS NoUnits float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/GasProfile Gas Profile molecules cm-2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/MainDataQualityFlag Main Data Quality Flag NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/MaximumColumnAmount Maximum Column Amount for QA Flag 'good' molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/PixelCornerLatitudes Pixel Corner Latitude Coordinates deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/PixelCornerLongitudes Pixel Corner Longitude Coordinates deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceReferenceColumnAmount Radiance Reference Fit Column Amount molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceReferenceColumnUncertainty Radiance Reference Fit Column Uncertainty molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceReferenceColumnXTRFit Radiance Reference Fit Column XTR Fit molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceReferenceConvergenceFlag Radiance Reference Fit Convergence Flag NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceReferenceFittingRMS Radiance Reference Fit RMS NoUnits float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceReferenceLatitudeRange Radiance Reference Fit Latitude Range NoUnits float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceWavCalConvergenceFlag Radiance Wavelength Calibration Convergence Flag NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/RadianceWavCalLatitudeRange Radiance Wavelength Calibration Latitude Range NoUnits float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/ReferenceSectorCorrectedVerticalColumn Reference Sector Corrected Vertical Column molec/cm2 float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/ScatteringWeights Scattering Weights NoUnits float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Data Fields/SolarWavCalConvergenceFlag Solar Wavelength Calibration Convergence Flag NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/Latitude Geodetic Latitude deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/Longitude Geodetic Longitude deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/SolarAzimuthAngle Solar Azimuth Angle deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/SolarZenithAngle Solar Zenith Angle deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/SpacecraftAltitude Altitude of Aura Spacecraft m float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/TerrainHeight Terrain Height m int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/Time Time in TAI units s float64 -1.0E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/TimeUTC Coordianted Universal Time NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/ViewingAzimuthAngle Viewing Azimuth Angle deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/ViewingZenithAngle Viewing Zenith Angle deg float32 -1.0000000150475E+30 N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/XtrackQualityFlags Cross-Track Quality Flags NoUnits int8 N/A N/A N/A
HDFEOS/SWATHS/OMI Total Column Amount HCHO/Geolocation Fields/XtrackQualityFlagsExpanded Expanded Cross-Track Quality Flags NoUnits int16 -30000 N/A N/A
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