Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) Satellite Validations of Ammonia, Methanol, Formic Acid, and Carbon Monoxide over the Canadian Oil Sands

The URLs link to the data archive of the Troposphere Emission Spectrometer (TES) retrievals. These include the transects included in the Canadian Tar Sands study. A brief description of TES is listed below.

TES is a spectrometer that measures the infrared-light energy (radiance) emitted by Earth's surface and by gases and particles in Earth's atmosphere. Every substance warmer than absolute zero emits infrared radiation at certain signature wavelengths. Spectrometers measure this radiation as a means of identifying the substances.

TES has very high spectral resolution, which gives it the ability to pinpoint the wavelengths at which the substances are emitting. This enables precise identification of the substances, and also provides information about their location in the atmosphere. Emission wavelengths can vary with temperature and pressure, so seeing the emissions with great precision enables scientists to infer the temperature and pressure of the chemicals from which they came. This, in turn, implies that the chemicals being observed are at a certain altitude where those temperatures and pressures apply. The ability to determine the altitude of the observed chemicals enables TES to distinguish radiation from the upper and lower atmosphere, and focus on the lower layer - the troposphere.

Since it observes light in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, similar to night-vision goggles, TES can observe both day and night. Its spectral range overlaps that of HIRDLS, another of the instruments aboard the Aura satellite. So, in addition to its work in the troposphere, TES can supplement HIRDLS measurements of chemicals in the stratosphere that are common to both instruments, as well as help scientists measure additional constituents of the stratosphere.

This dataset is associated with the following publication: Shephard, , M.W., C. McLinden, K.E. Cady-Pereira, M. Luo, S.G. Moussa, A. Leithead, J. Liggio, R.M. Staebler, A. Akingunola, P. Makar, P. Lehr, J. Zhang, D.K. Henze, D.B. Millet, J. Bash , L. Zhu, K.C. Wells, S.L. Capps, S. Chaliyakunnel, M. Gordon, K. Hayden, J.R. Brook, M. Wolde, and S. Li. Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) satellite observations of ammonia, methanol, formic acid, and carbon monoxide over the Canadian oil sands: validation and model evaluation. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. Copernicus Publications, Katlenburg-Lindau, GERMANY, 8: 5189-5211, (2015).

Data e Risorse

Campo Valore
accessLevel public
bureauCode {020:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
identifier A-9326-219
license https://pasteur.epa.gov/license/sciencehub-license.html
modified 2015-06-15
programCode {020:094}
publisher U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD)
publisher_hierarchy U.S. Government > U.S. Environmental Protection Agency > U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD)
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash b3b2cfe26336a15b13b32ccd4b4311a2d0fb3619
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Gruppi
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tag
  • AmeriGEO
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • CKAN
  • GEO
  • GEOSS
  • National
  • North America
  • United States
  • air-quality-model
  • nh3-emissions
  • nitrogen-cycle
  • satellite-air-quality
  • sensors
isopen False
license_id other-license-specified
license_title other-license-specified
maintainer Jesse Bash
maintainer_email bash.jesse@epa.gov
metadata_created 2025-09-23T18:29:20.632079
metadata_modified 2025-09-23T18:29:20.632085
notes The URLs link to the data archive of the Troposphere Emission Spectrometer (TES) retrievals. These include the transects included in the Canadian Tar Sands study. A brief description of TES is listed below. TES is a spectrometer that measures the infrared-light energy (radiance) emitted by Earth's surface and by gases and particles in Earth's atmosphere. Every substance warmer than absolute zero emits infrared radiation at certain signature wavelengths. Spectrometers measure this radiation as a means of identifying the substances. TES has very high spectral resolution, which gives it the ability to pinpoint the wavelengths at which the substances are emitting. This enables precise identification of the substances, and also provides information about their location in the atmosphere. Emission wavelengths can vary with temperature and pressure, so seeing the emissions with great precision enables scientists to infer the temperature and pressure of the chemicals from which they came. This, in turn, implies that the chemicals being observed are at a certain altitude where those temperatures and pressures apply. The ability to determine the altitude of the observed chemicals enables TES to distinguish radiation from the upper and lower atmosphere, and focus on the lower layer - the troposphere. Since it observes light in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, similar to night-vision goggles, TES can observe both day and night. Its spectral range overlaps that of HIRDLS, another of the instruments aboard the Aura satellite. So, in addition to its work in the troposphere, TES can supplement HIRDLS measurements of chemicals in the stratosphere that are common to both instruments, as well as help scientists measure additional constituents of the stratosphere. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Shephard, , M.W., C. McLinden, K.E. Cady-Pereira, M. Luo, S.G. Moussa, A. Leithead, J. Liggio, R.M. Staebler, A. Akingunola, P. Makar, P. Lehr, J. Zhang, D.K. Henze, D.B. Millet, J. Bash , L. Zhu, K.C. Wells, S.L. Capps, S. Chaliyakunnel, M. Gordon, K. Hayden, J.R. Brook, M. Wolde, and S. Li. Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) satellite observations of ammonia, methanol, formic acid, and carbon monoxide over the Canadian oil sands: validation and model evaluation. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. Copernicus Publications, Katlenburg-Lindau, GERMANY, 8: 5189-5211, (2015).
num_resources 2
num_tags 13
title Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) Satellite Validations of Ammonia, Methanol, Formic Acid, and Carbon Monoxide over the Canadian Oil Sands