Microwave Limb Sounder

MLS Daily Stratospheric and Mesospheric data plots

(For futher information, please contact Gloria Manney)

Stratospheric EqL/θ plots:
Daily MLS H₂O, O₃, CO, N₂O, HNO₃, ClO, HCl, OH, and HCN equivalent latitude (EqL) zonal means plotted as a function of
potential temperature (θ), with overlaid contours of scaled potential vorticity.

UTLS Isentropic plots:
Daily isentropic maps of MLS (left to right) ozone (ppmv), nitric acid (ppbv), water vapor (ppmv) and carbon monoxide (ppbv) in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, with white overlaid contours showing the tropopause (4.5 'PVU') and black overlaid contours showing the bottom of the polar vortex in the winter hemisphere.

Stratospheric Polar projection plots for NH and SH:
Daily plots of:
a) temperature, N₂O, H₂O, HNO₃, O₃, ClO, tropopause pressure and HCl at θ = 490K (~18 km, 56 hPa)
b) temperature, N₂O, H₂O, HNO₃, O₃, ClO, OH and HCl at θ = 850K (~32 km, 10 hPa)
c) temperature, H₂O, O₃ and CO at θ = 1700K (~50 km, 1 hPa)

Stratospheric Cylindrical projection plots:
Daily plots of:
a) temperature, N₂O, H₂O, HNO₃, O₃, ClO, tropopause pressure and HCl at θ = 490K (~18 km, 56 hPa)
b) temperature, N₂O, H₂O, HNO₃, O₃, ClO, OH and HCl at θ = 850K (~32 km, 10 hPa)
c) temperature, H₂O, O₃ and CO at θ = 1700K (~50 km, 1 hPa)

Mesospheric plots:
Daily plots of temperature, CO, H₂O, O₃, HCl, OH at θ = 2700K (~60 km, 0.2 hPa). Includes cylindrical projection plots and polar plots for NH and SH

MLS Weekly Tropospheric Data Plots

(For futher information, please contact Jonathan Jiang)

These are global maps of weekly-average MLS measurements of upper tropospheric cloud ice, relative humidity with respect to ice, watervapor, CO, O₃and temperature. Included for comparison are maps for the same period of GEOS-CHEM model (driven by GMAO GEOS-4 meteorological data) near-real-time output for CO and O₃, and GMAO GEOS-4 first look output for water vapor. Maps are currently available for MLS v01.51 and v01.52 data at 100, 147, and 215 hPa pressure surfaces. White contours show potential vorticity value (3.5x106 Km²kg^-1s^-1) indicative of the dynamical tropopause. Black contours on the cloud ice maps show GMAO outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) value of 240 W/m². Black contours on the other maps show MLS cloud ice values indicative of deep convection (0.3 mg/m³ at 100 hPa, 1 mg/m³ at 147 hPa, and 3 mg/m³ at 215 hPa). The MLS data have been screened to exclude
situations where clouds impact the results. The v1.51 CO values at 215 hPa are known to be ~2x large relative to correlative data.

Daily Meteorological Plots

(For futher information, please contact Gloria Manney)

Stratospheric potential vorticity (PV) and temperature plots, separately from:
a) NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), Goddard Earth Observatory System (GEOS)
b) UK Met Office Stratosphere Troposphere Assimiliation System distributed by the British Atmospheric Data System

Upper Troposphere / Lower Stratosphere daily maps of GPH, windspeed, tropopause, PV, cold point temperature, diabatic heating rates, 200 hPa divergence, and 200 hPa velocity potential

Bi-Weekly Meteorological Reports

(For further information, please contact Gloria Manney)


These slides are prepared every two weeks (excepting holidays/vacations) and presented at the MLS team meetings to provide an update on stratospheric and UTLS meteorological conditions and how they affect the MLS composition measurements. They focus mainly on the winter stratospheric polar vortices.

Ozone Hole Cutout

(For further information, please contact Luis Millan)


This is a paper cutout of the 2006 southern hemisphere ozone hole that can gives a picture of what the ozone hole looks like when it is observed by MLS. This can be used as an educational aid to illustrate ozone science. The ozone layer is a blanket 16 to 50 km (10 to 31 miles) above the Earth surface that protects us from harmful ultraviolet light from the sun. In the 1980s scientists found out that the ozone layer was being destroyed by industrial chemicals. NASA satellites such as the Microwave Limb Sounder enable scientists to study ozone and many of the key gases involved in its destruction.

Data Animations

(For further information, please contact Michelle Santee)

Please visit the Data Animations page to view seasonal Northern Hemisphere and/or Southern Hemisphere data animations.