Vertical profiles of global seasonal mean nitrogen dioxide in five distinct layers in the troposphere

Two datasets (and files) are provided. Both are vertical profiles of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in five distinct layers in the atmosphere: one in the boundary layer (below 800 hPa), two in the middle troposphere (800-600 hPa, 600-450 hPa), and two in the upper troposphere (450-320 hPa, 320-180 hPa). The first is derived with TROPOMI satellite observations and the second simulated with the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model (CTM).The satellite-derived data are obtained by cloud-slicing TROPOMI partial columns (stratosphere + troposphere) of NO2 retrieved above optically thick clouds (optical cloud fraction > 0.7) from June 2018 to May 2022 to obtain seasonal multiyear mean global gridded (1o x 1o) NO2.The second dataset is GEOS-Chem NO2 at 2o x 2.5o sampled at 12:00-15:00 local solar time (LST) to be centred at the TROPOMI overpass time (13:30 LST). The model data are also multiyear means, but for 2016-2019.Evaluation of the satellite-derived data against NASA DC8 aircraft observations and application of the evaluated cloud-sliced data to assess current understanding of tropospheric NOx as simulated with the GEOS-Chem model are detailed in the accompanying paper submitted for review in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP) journal.