DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_TO3_v03 is Level2 Total Ozone derived from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) using Level 1b version 3 inputs and version 3 ozone retrieval algorithm. The measurements from four EPIC UV (ultraviolet) channels derive the global distributions of total ozone over the entire sunlit portion of the Earth. A new soft calibration technique developed based on scene matching with OMPS gives calibrated EPIC radiances. The calibrated EPIC radiances derive science-quality total ozone products from EPIC consistent with those from other UV instruments. The retrieval algorithm uses wavelength triplets and assumes that the scene reflectivity changes linearly with wavelength. Version 3 algorithm includes several key modifications aimed to improve total ozone retrievals: a) switch to Version 3 Level 1b product with improved geolocation registration, flat field, and dark counts corrections; b) replace OMI-based (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) cloud height climatology with the simultaneous EPIC A-Band cloud height; c) update absolute calibrations using polar orbiting the NASA OMPS SNPP ( Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite / Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Ozone); d) add corrections for ozone profile shape and temperature; e) update algorithm and error flags to filter data; f) add column weighting functions for each observation to facilitate error analysis. EPIC ozone retrievals accurately capture short-term synoptic changes in total column ozone. With EPIC measurements from DSCOVR's vantage point, synoptic ozone maps can be derived every 1-2 hours. Scene Reflectivity (clouds, aerosols, and surface) is derived from ozone retrieval. In conjunction with ozone, the scene reflectivity has been used to derive the amount of UV solar radiation reaching the ground, and surface UV Erythemal is also reported in these files.

DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_AER_03 is the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Enhanced Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) Level 2 UV Aerosol Version 3 data product. Observations for this data product are at 340 and 388 nm and are used to derive near UV aerosol properties. The EPIC aerosol retrieval algorithm (EPICAERUV) uses a set of aerosol models to account for the presence of carbonaceous aerosols from biomass burning and wild fires (BIO), desert dust (DST), and sulfate-based (SLF) aerosols. These aerosol models are identical to those assumed in the OMI algorithm (Torres et al., 2007; Jethva and Torres, 2011). Aerosol data products generated by the EPICAERUV algorithm are aerosol extinction optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) at 340, 388 and 500 nm for clear sky conditions. AOD of absorbing aerosols above clouds is also reported (Jethva et al., 2018). In addition, the UV Aerosol Index (UVAI) is calculated from 340 and 388 nm radiances for all sky conditions. AOD is a dimensionless measure of the extinction of light y aerosols due to the combined effect of scattering and absorption. SSA represents the fraction of extinction solely due to aerosol scattering effects. The AI is simply a residual parameter that quantifies the difference in spectral dependence between measured and calculated near UV radiances assuming a purely molecular atmosphere. Because most of the observed positive residuals are associated with the presence of absorbing aerosols, this parameter is commonly known as the UV Absorbing Aerosol Index. EPIC-derived aerosol parameters are reported at a 10 km (nadir) resolution.

Robust cloud products are critical for the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) to contribute significantly to climate studies. Building on our team’s track record in cloud detection, cloud property retrieval, oxygen band exploitation, and DSCOVR-related studies, we propose to develop a suite of algorithms for generating the operational Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) cloud mask, cloud height, and cloud optical thickness products. Multichannel observations will be used for cloud masking; the cloud height will be developed with information from the oxygen A- and B- band pairs (780 nm vs. 779.5 nm and 680 nm vs. 687.75 nm); for the cloud optical thickness retrieval, we propose an approach that combines the EPIC 680 nm observations and numerical weather model outputs. Preliminary results from radiative transfer modeling and proxy data applications show that the proposed algorithms are viable.Product validation will be conducted by comparing EPIC observations/retrievals with counterparts from coexisting Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites. The proposed work will include a rigorous uncertainty analysis based on theoretical and computational radiative transfer modeling that complements standard validation activities with physics-based diagnostics. We also plan to evaluate and improve the calibration of the EPIC O2 A- and B-band absorption channels by tracking the instrument performance over known targets, such as cloud-free ocean and ice sheet surfaces.The deliverables for the proposed work include an Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) for peer review, products generated with the proposed algorithms, and supporting research articles. The data products, archived at the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at the NASA Langley Research Center, will provide essential inputs needed for the community to apply EPIC observations to climate research and better interpret The National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR) observations.The proposed work directly responds to the solicitation to “develop and implement the necessary algorithms and processes to enable various data products from EPIC sunrise to sunset observations once on orbit” and improve “the calibration of EPIC based on in-flight data.”

Total ozone Level 2 files provide ozone information at TEMPO’s native spatial resolution, ~10 km^2 at the center of the Field of Regard (FOR), for individual granules. Each granule covers the entire North-South TEMPO FOR but only a portion of the East-West FOR. The files are provided in netCDF4 format, and contain information on total column ozone and some auxiliary derived and ancillary input parameters including N-values, effective Lambertian scene-reflectivity, UV aerosol index, SO2 index, effective cloud fraction, effective cloud pressure, radiative cloud fraction, ozone below clouds, terrain height, geolocation, solar and satellite viewing angles, and quality flags. The retrieval is based on the OMI TOMS V8.5 algorithm adapted for TEMPO. These data reached provisional validation on December 9, 2024.

Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) is a 10-channel spectro-radiometer (317 – 780 nm) onboard National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) DSCOVR spacecraft located at the Earth-Sun Lagrange-1 (L-1) point giving EPIC a unique angular perspective that is used in science applications to measure ozone, aerosols, cloud reflectivity, cloud height, vegetation properties, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation estimates at Earth's surface. EPIC provides ten narrow-band spectral images of the entire sunlit face of the Earth using a 2048x2048 pixel Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detector coupled to a 30-cm aperture Cassegrain telescope. EPIC collects radiance data from the Earth and other sources through the Camera/Telescope Assembly. EPIC has a field of view (FOV) of 0.62 degrees, sufficient to image the entire Earth. Because of DSCOVR's tilted (Lissajous) orbit about the L‐1 point, the apparent angular size of the Earth varies from 0.45 to 0.53 degrees within its 6-month orbital period. Depending on the season, a complete set of per-band images is taken every 60 to 100 minutes.Accompanying instrument metadata and a series of calibrations and corrections are applied to convert the images to Level 1A format properly. The significant corrections are for flat‐fielding and stray light. Flat-fielding is based on measurements with a uniform light source to measure the differences in sensitivity for each of the 4 million pixels. The resulting correction map is applied to the estimated counts from the CCD. Stray light was measured in the laboratory using a series of small-diameter light sources entering the telescope and imaged on the CCD. A similar set of measurements has been performed on orbit using the moon. The illumination of pixels outside the primary diameter of the light source was measured to produce a detailed matrix map of the entire stray light function, and the resulting stray light correction was applied to every image. Other corrections are also used based on laboratory measurements. For wavelengths longer than 550 nm, there are back-to-front interference effects in the partially transparent CCD (etaloning) that must also be removed from measured radiance.The Level 1B products contain calibrated and geolocated EPIC images with ancillary metadata. These data products are in HDF5 format.

DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_GLINT_01 is Version 1 of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) Level 2 glint data product. This product indicates the presence of glint caused by the single scattering specular reflection of sunlight either from horizontally oriented ice crystals floating in clouds, or from smooth, highly reflective water surfaces. Such glints can prevent accurate retrievals of atmospheric and surface properties using existing algorithms but can also be used to learn more about the glint-causing objects. The glint detection algorithm relies on the fact that EPIC takes images at different wavelengths at slightly different times. For example, red images are taken about 4 minutes after blue images. During these few minutes, the Earth’s rotation changes the orientation of the scene by one degree, which can affect whether EPIC observations at a specific wavelength will capture or miss the narrowly focused specular reflection from ice clouds or smooth water surfaces. As a result, sharp brightness differences between EPIC images taken a few minutes apart can identify glint signals. The glint product includes three parameters for each pixel in the part of EPIC images where the alignment of solar and viewing directions is suitable for sun glint observations: (1) The surface type flag shows whether the area of a pixel is covered mainly by water, desert, or non-desert land; (2) The glint angle—the angle between the actual EPIC view direction and the direction of looking straight into the specular reflection from a perfectly horizontal surface—tells how favorable the EPIC view direction is for glint detection and can help in estimating the distribution of ice crystal orientation; (3) The glint mask indicates whether or not glint has been detected.

Version 2.6 is the current version of this data product, and supersedes all previous versions.The OMPS-NPP L2 LP Ozone (O3) Vertical Profile swath daily Center slit collection contains ozone measured by the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) Limb-Profiler (LP) sensor on the Suomi-NPP satellite in Near Real Time (NRT). The LP ozone product measures the vertical distribution of ozone in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere. The algorithm derives ozone profile values along with errors in the UV from 29.5 km and 52.5 km, and in the visible from cloud top to 37.5 km (when there are no clouds the lower limit is 12.5 km). See the README for full description of the product and updated retrieval algorithm.Each granule contains data from the daylight portion of each orbit measured for a full day. Spatial coverage is global (-90 to 90 degrees latitude), and there are about 14.5 orbits per day, the data from the center of the LP three slits are used to make a vertical profile. The profile is measured from the ground up to about 60 km with a vertical resolution of the retrieved profiles of approximately 1.8 km.The data are written using the Hierarchical Data Format Version 5 or HDF5.

DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_GLINT_01 is Version 1 of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) Level 2 glint data product. This product indicates the presence of glint caused by the single scattering specular reflection of sunlight either from horizontally oriented ice crystals floating in clouds or from smooth, highly reflective water surfaces. Such glints can prevent accurate retrievals of atmospheric and surface properties using existing algorithms but can also be used to learn more about the glint-causing objects.The glint detection algorithm relies on EPIC taking images at different wavelengths at slightly different times. For example, red images are taken about 4 minutes after blue images. During these few minutes, the Earth's rotation changes the scene's orientation by one degree, affecting whether EPIC observations at a specific wavelength will capture or miss the narrowly focused specular reflection from ice clouds or smooth water surfaces. As a result, sharp brightness differences between EPIC images taken a few minutes apart can identify glint signals. The glint product includes three parameters for each pixel in the part of EPIC images where the alignment of solar and viewing directions is suitable for sun glint observations: (1) The surface type flag shows whether the area of a pixel is covered mainly by water, desert, or non-desert land; (2) The glint angle—the angle between the actual EPIC view direction and the direction of looking straight into the specular reflection from a perfectly horizontal surface—tells how favorable the EPIC view direction is for glint detection and can help in estimating the distribution of ice crystal orientation; (3) The glint mask indicates whether or not glint has been detected.

The Meteor-3 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) version 8 daily global gridded data product contains total column ozone, UV aerosol index, Lambertian effective surface reflectivity (Rayleigh corrected), and UV-B erythemal local noon irradiances. The data are mapped to a global grid of size 180 x 288 with a lat-long resolution of 1.00 x 1.25 degrees. These data are stored in the EOS Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS).The TOMS data were produced by the Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Code 614).

Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) is a 10-channel spectro-radiometer (317 – 780 nm) onboard NOAA’s DSCOVR spacecraft located at the Earth-Sun Lagrange-1 (L-1) point, giving EPIC a unique angular perspective that is used in science applications to measure ozone, aerosols, cloud reflectivity, cloud height, vegetation properties, and UV radiation estimates at Earth's surface. EPIC provides 10 narrow-band spectral images of the entire sunlit face of the Earth using a 2048x2048 pixel CCD (Charge Coupled Device) detector coupled to a 30-cm aperture Cassegrain telescope. EPIC collects radiance data of the Earth and other sources through the Camera/Telescope Assembly. EPIC has a field of view (FOV) of 0.62 degrees, sufficient to image the entire Earth. Because of DSCOVR's tilted (Lissajous) orbit about the L‐1 point, the apparent angular size of the Earth varies from 0.45 to 0.53 degrees within its 6-month orbital period. Depending on the season, a complete set of per-band images is taken every 60 to 100 minutes. Accompanying instrument metadata and a series of calibrations and corrections are applied to properly convert the images to Level 1A format. The major corrections are for flat‐fielding and stray light. Flat-fielding is based on measurements with a uniform light source to measure the differences in sensitivity for each of the 4 million pixels. The resulting correction map is applied to the measured counts from the CCD. Stray light was measured in the laboratory using a series of small diameter light sources entering the telescope and imaged on the CCD. A similar set of measurements has been performed on orbit using the moon. The illumination of pixels outside the main diameter of the light source was measured to produce a detailed matrix map of the entire stray light function, and the resulting stray light correction is applied to every image. Other corrections are also applied based on laboratory measurements. For wavelengths longer than 550 nm there are back to front interference effects in the partially transparent CCD (etaloning) that must also be removed from the measured radiances. The Level 1A products contain calibrated EPIC images with ancillary metadata and geolocation information. These data products are in HDF5 format.