We are in the process of migrating all NASA Earth science data sites into Earthdata from now until end of 2026. Not all NASA Earth science data and resources will appear here until then. Thank you for your patience as we make this transition.
Read about the Web Unification Project
Air Quality Data Access and Tools
NASA has air quality datasets that help researchers characterize the particular makeup of the air we breathe. Access a range of data and data tools such as AppEEARS, FIRMS, and Giovanni to make the most of air quality data.
Air quality comprises a constellation of scientific topics that inform our understanding of this field. Learn more about data and resources focused on aerosol optical depth, aerosol index, trace gases, land surface reflectance, the effect of dust, ash, and smoke, and human dimensions, including natural hazards.
Many NASA observation methods—platforms, instruments, and space geodesy techniques—provide data that improve our understanding of air quality, including NASA's Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO) instrument, featured below. Learn more about how the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) continually acquire data about pollutants.
Air Quality Datasets
| Dataset | Platforms | Instruments | Temporal Extent | Location Keywords | Spatial Extent | Data Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global Annual PM2.5 Grids from MODIS, MISR and SeaWiFS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), 1998-2012 | Aqua, Terra, OrbView-2, MODELS | MODIS, MISR, SeaWiFS, Computer | 1998-01-01 to 2012-12-31 | GLOBAL | N: 70 S: -55 E: 180 W: -180 | GRID |
| Global Annual PM2.5 Grids from MODIS, MISR and SeaWiFS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), 1998-2019, V4.GL.03 | MODELS, Aqua, Terra, OrbView-2 | Computer, MODIS, MISR, SeaWiFS | 1998-01-01 to 2019-12-31 | GLOBAL | N: 69.85 S: -54.85 E: 180 W: -180 | GeoTIFF, PDF, PNG |
| Global Annual PM2.5 Grids from MODIS, MISR, SeaWiFS and VIIRS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), 1998-2022, V5.GL.04 | MODELS, Aqua, Terra, Suomi-NPP | Computer, MODIS, MISR, VIIRS | 1998-01-01 to 2022-12-31 | GLOBAL | N: 69.85 S: -54.85 E: 180 W: -180 | GeoTIFF, PDF, PNG, netCDF-4 |
| Global Fire Emissions Database, Version 4.1 (GFEDv4) | MODELS, TRMM, Terra, ERS-1 | Computer, VIIRS, MODIS, ATSR | 1995-06-01 to 2016-12-31 | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | multiple | |
| Global Fire Emissions Indicators, Country-Level Tabular Data: 1997-2015 | MODELS | Computer | 1997-01-01 to 2015-12-31 | GLOBAL, AFGHANISTAN, ALBANIA, ALGERIA, AMERICAN SAMOA | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | Excel |
| Global Fire Emissions Indicators, Grids: 1997-2015 | MODELS | Computer | 1997-01-01 to 2015-12-31 | GLOBAL | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | GeoTIFF, PDF, PNG, WMS |
| Global-Gridded Daily Methane Emissions from Inland Dam-Reservoir Systems | MODELS | Computer | 2002-01-01 to 2015-12-31 | GLOBAL | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | netCDF-4 classic |
| GPM Ground Validation Environment Canada (EC) Visibility Sensor FD12P C3VP V1 | GROUND STATIONS | FD12P WEATHER SENSOR | 2006-10-04 to 2007-03-31 | ONTARIO | N: 44.242 S: 44.222 E: -79.772 W: -79.791 | ASCII |
| INTEX-A Aircraft data | NASA DC-8 | LIDAR, SPECTROMETERS | 2004-06-26 to 2004-08-14 | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | ASCII | |
| INTEX-A AIRMAP data | Aqua, ENVISAT, GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS, Terra, Aura | NOT APPLICABLE, FILTERABLE DEPOSIT JAR SAMPLER, DC8 DROPSONDES | 2004-07-05 to 2004-07-05 | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | ASCII |
SHOWING 10 OF 552
Featured Air Quality Observation Method: TEMPO
NASA's Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO) instrument provides hourly measurements of O3, NO2, and other key elements of air pollution.
These new Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) products will aid validation efforts and algorithm development, and will be used to expand the mission’s higher-level products.
5 MIN READ
This webinar provides an overview of the TEMPO mission and its data products and shows how to discover and access TEMPO data products using NASA's Earthdata Search.
The 14 layers from the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution mission offer data on clouds, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and more.
The beta release of Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission data products lets users begin developing applications using these data.
Air Quality Data Tools
| Tool Sort descending | Description | Services | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AppEEARS | The The Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offers users a simple and efficient way to perform data access and transformation processes. | Search and Discovery, Subsetting, Customization, Downloading, Visualization | |
| CASEI | The Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI) is a comprehensive inventory of contextual information for NASA's Earth Science airborne and field campaigns. | Search and Discovery, Cataloging | |
| FIRMS | The Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) provides access to satellite imagery, active fire/hotspots, and related products to identify the location, extent, and intensity of wildfire activity. | Access, Visualization | |
| Panoply | Panoply is a cross-platform application that plots geo-referenced and other arrays from netCDF, HDF, GRIB, and other datasets. | Visualization, Customization, Reformatting, Subsetting, Comparison | |
| VEDA | NASA's Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis (VEDA) project is an open-source science cyberinfrastructure for data processing, visualization, exploration, and geographic information systems (GIS) capabilities. | Access, Analysis, Processing, Visualization, Geoprocessing | |
| Worldview | Worldview offers the capability to interactively browse over 1,200 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and download the underlying data. | Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization, Access, Comparison, Monitoring Natural Events |
SHOWING 6 OF 6
Frequently Asked Questions
Earthdata Forum
Our online forum provides a space for users to browse thousands of FAQs about research needs, data, and data applications. You can also submit new questions for our experts to answer.
Submit Questions to Earthdata Forumand View Expert Responses