The S5P Level-2 methane product is dependent on having information on cloud occurrence at spatial resolution finer than that achievable from TROPOMI itself. This information is also useful for other purposes, including assessing the influence of cloud on other Level-2 products and issues related to spatial co-registration. A Level-2 auxiliary product was therefore developed to describe cloud in the TROPOMI field of view (FOV), using co-located observations of VIIRS (Visible Infra-red Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the U.S. S-NPP (Suomi - National Polar-orbiting Partnership). S5P flies in a so-called loose formation with the S-NPP with a temporal separation between them of less than 5 minutes.

The main information contained in the S5P-NPP product is:

  • A statistical summary for each S5P FOV of the NPP-VIIRS L2 Cloud Mask (VCM).
  • The mean and standard deviation of the sun-normalised radiance in a number of VIIRS moderate resolution bands.

This information is provided for three S5P spectral bands (to account for differences in spatial sampling).

More information and examples

  • Product description
  • Gallery
  • Validation summary
  • Publications

Dataset Specifications

Examples of filenames (a.k.a. granules):

S5P_OFFL_L2__NP_BD3_20260201T231910_20260202T010040_43039_03_020003_20260203T131345.nc S5P_OFFL_L2__NP_BD6_20260201T231910_20260202T010040_43039_03_020003_20260203T131345.nc S5P_OFFL_L2__NP_BD7_20220701T230527_20220702T004657_24439_02_010300_20220703T125153.nc

Elements in the filename separated by underscores after the initial "S5P":
* processing type: off-line (OFFL), reprocessing of off-line (RPRO)
* product identifier [10 char.]
* start date and time of granule
* end date and time of granule
* orbit number [5 char.]
* collection number [2 char.]
* version number [6 char.]
* production date and time
In case of OFFL and RPRO granules are full orbits; this product is not availabel in near-real time (NRTI).

Dataset Specifications V2

Temporal Coverage

Since 29-Nov-2023

Spatial Coverage

~2600 km swath

Full daily surface coverage of radiance and reflectance measurements for latitudes > 7° and < -7°, and better than 95 % coverage for latitudes in the interval [-7°, 7°]

Spatial Resolution at Nadir

3.5 x 7.0 km (across x along track), at beginning of mission

3.5 x 5.5 km (across x along track), since 6 August 2019

Processor Version02.xx.xx, with x=any digit between 0 and 9

Dataset Specifications V1

Temporal Coverage

From 04-May-2018 to 23-Nov-2023

Spatial Coverage

~2600 km swath

Full daily surface coverage of radiance and reflectance measurements for latitudes > 7° and < -7°, and better than 95 % coverage for latitudes in the interval [-7°, 7°]

Spatial Resolution at Nadir

3.5 x 7.0 km (across x along track), at beginning of mission

3.5 x 5.5 km (across x along track), since 6 August 2019

Processor Version01.xx.xx, with x=any digit between 0 and 9

Processing Level

Level-2 processing of S5P/TROPOMI data.

How to Access the Data

The data related to this product and to the other S5P/TROPOMI products are accessible via the  Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE).

Documentation & Related Datasets

Technical documentation on the S5P/TROPOMI Level-1B and Level-2 products can be found on the the  SentiWiki S5P Products page.

Dataset Citation Guidelines

Users, who, in their research, use ESA Earth Observation data that have been assigned a DOI, are asked to use it when citing the data source in their publications:

Dataset Citation Guidelines V2

Copernicus Sentinel-5P (processed by ESA), 2023, S5P-NPP Level 2 Cloud products. Version 02. European Space Agency. https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-c8b3899

Dataset Citation Guidelines V1

Copernicus Sentinel-5P (processed by ESA), 2019, S5P-NPP Level 2 Cloud products. Version 01. European Space Agency. https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-91oxxtk