monthly Aerosol Index from Nimbus7
Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data is a source of high resolution global information about the total ozone content of the atmosphere. The TOMS aerosol index is a measure of how much the wavelength dependence of backscattered UV radiation from an atmosphere containing aerosols (Mie scattering, Rayleigh scattering, and absorption) differs from that of a pure molecular atmosphere (pure Rayleigh scattering). The TOMS aerosol optical depth record covers the periods from January 1979 to April 1993 (Nimbus7-TOMS observations), and from July 1996 to December 2000 (Earth Probe TOMS measurements). These datasets are produced by the NASA/GSFC Ozone Processing Team at 380 nm for both instruments.
| Variables | aerosol optical depth index and number of days per month at each grid |
| Zonal | Global by 1.0 deg |
| Meridional | Global by 1.0 deg |
| Vertical | one level |
| Temporal | Jan 1979 to Apr 1993 by 1 month(s) |
| Static? | no |
| Volume | 89.18 Mbytes total |
| Server | public: |
| Source | http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov/aerosols/aot.html |
| Acquired | Mar 28, 2006 |
| APDRC contact | Yongsheng Zhang |
| Supplements | readme.f |