NUCAPS: NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System Environmental Data Record (EDR) Products

This dataset consists of numerous retrieved estimates of hydrological variables and trace gases as Environmental Data Record (EDR) products from the NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS). NUCAPS was developed by the NOAA/NESDIS Center for Satellite Application and Research (STAR) and is produced operationally at the NOAA/NESDIS Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO). The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite is a Fourier transform spectrometer with a total of 1,305 spectral channels covering the longwave IR (9.14 - 15.38 um), midwave IR (5.71 - 8.26 um) and shortwave IR (3.92 - 4.64 um) wavelengths. The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) also onboard the S-NPP satellite is a cross-track scanner with 22 channels in spectral bands from 23 GHz through 183 GHz. The full spectrum NUCAPS Cloud-Cleared Radiances (CCRs) are used to retrieve the EDR products. The EDR or Standard Product consists of retrieved estimates of hydrological variables including temperature, water vapor, cloud fraction and cloud top pressure, along with trace gas retrievals including ozone (O3), methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (N2O), and nitric acid (HNO3), and a flag indicating the presence of dust and volcano emission. The vertical sampling of each retrieved atmospheric profile variable consists of 100 points total between 1100 mb and 0.016 mb. Intermediate solutions from the microwave-only step and the regression first guess are also part of the delivered standard output. Each product file encompasses one 32-second granule of data, corresponding to 4 scan lines of CrIS/ATMS data. The products are distributed in netCDF-4 file format with metadata attributes included.