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Level 3 Products

The objective of the TES Science Data Processing L3 subsystem is to interpolate the L2 atmospheric profiles collected in a Global Survey onto a global grid uniform in latitude and longitude that will provide a 3-D representation of the distribution of atmospheric gasses. The L3 standard data products are composed of L3 HDF-EOS grid data. The most recent version of publicly available TES Level 3 data is Version 6.

The L3 standard data products are composed of L3 HDF-EOS grid data.

The most recent version of publicly available TES Level 3 data is Version 5.

A separate product file is produced for each different atmospheric species. Each of these files is referred to an Earth Science Data Type (ESDT). TES obtains data in two basic observation modes: Limb or Nadir. The product file may contain, limb data, nadir data, or both.

Specific to L3 processing are the terms "Daily" and "Monthly" representing the approximate time coverage of the L3 products. However, the input data granules to the L3 process will be complete Global Surveys; in other words a Global Survey will not be split in relation to time when input to the L3 processes even if they exceed the usual understood meanings of a day or month.  L3 data is provided at uniform grids in latitude and longitude and at selected pressure levels.

More specifically:

  • Daily L3 products represent a single Global Survey (approximately 26 hours)
  • Monthly L3 products represent Global Surveys that are initiated within that calendar month.

The table below illustrates the molecular species and temperature reported for L2 nadir and limb retrievals.

Species AtmT H20 HDO O3 CO CH4 HNO3 NO2 CO2 NH3
Nadir Grid Objects - -
Limb Grid Objects          

The L3 standard product files are implemented using the HDF-EOS 5 file format. HDF-EOS 5 files have a default extension of ".he5". The ECS Local Granule ID (filename) for a L3 standard product is constructed using the following template:

TES L3 standard data product ESDTs

ESDT Short Name Species View mode Product Name
Daily
TL3ATD ATM-TEMP Nadir / Limb TES/Aura L3 Atmospheric Temperatures Daily
TL3H2OD H2O Nadir / Limb TES/Aura L3 H2O Daily
TL3O3D O3 Nadir / Limb TES/Aura L3 O3 Daily
TL3COD CO Nadir TES/Aura L3 CO Daily
TL3CH4D CH4 Nadir TES/Aura L3 CH4 Daily
TL3HDOD HDO Nadir / Limb TES/Aura L3 HDO Daily
Monthly
TL3ATM ATM-TEMP Nadir/Limb TES/Aura L3 Atmospheric Temperatures Monthly
TL3H2OM H2O Nadir/Limb TES/Aura L3 H2O Monthly
TL3O3M O3 Nadir/Limb TES/Aura L3 O3 Monthly
TL3COM CO Nadir TES/Aura L3 CO Monthly
TL3CH4M CH4 Nadir TES/Aura L3 CH4 Monthly
TL3HDOM HDO Nadir/Limb TES/Aura L3 HDO Monthly

Filenames

The filenames for the L3 standard products are constructed using the following template:

Daily:
TES-Aura_L3-species_run id_version id.he5 
TES-Aura_L3-species_run id_calibration designator_version id.he5

Monthly:
TES-Aura_L3-species-Myearmonth_version id.he5 
TES-Aura_L3-species-Myearmonth_calibration designator_version id.he5

  • species refers to which molecule or temperature the file uses
  • run id represents the ten-digit run identification number
  • version id represents the version identification number, which is used to keep track of file format changes

    where:
    F = File Format placeholder
    ff = 2-digit version number reflecting file Format changes
    cc = 2-digit version number reflecting file Content changes

  • calibration designator: The filename with calibration designator is applicable for all global surveys with run IDs greater than or equal to 11125 and special observations with run IDs greater than or equal to 11189.
  • year yyyy, 4-digit number representing year
  • month mmm,
    m: month format placeholder
    mm : 2-digit number representing month
  • .he5 extension denotes the use of HDF-EOS 5 format

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