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Spatiotemporal Assessment of the TEMPO Formaldehyde Column Retrieval using the Pandonia Global Network

Published by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | Metadata Last Checked: March 22, 2026 | Last Modified: 2025-07-31
Abstract copied from manuscript July 21, 2025 Launched in April 2023, the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO), instrument provides for the first time hourly measurements of atmospheric pollutants over most of North America at high spatial resolution (˜ 2 × 4.75 km2). This evaluation of TEMPO’s first year demonstrates the capability of total formaldehyde column retrievals (ΩHCHO, version 3) at different locations, seasons, and meteorological conditions. The ΩHCHO product is assessed using 36 ground-based Pandora direct-sun measurements from Pandonia Global Network (PGN) as a reference dataset. The 36 PGN sites were chosen for consistency in direct-sun and sky-scan measurement modes. In the first year of operation, TEMPO ΩHCHO exhibit moderate to strong agreement at PGN sites in both measurement modes (R2 = 0.63 to 0.85). TEMPO shows a small bias of -2 ± 20% at lower ΩHCHO (< 1.0×1016 molecule cm-2) and a larger underestimation of -22 ± 5% at higher ΩHCHO (> 1.5×1016 molecule cm-2). TEMPO clearly captures the seasonal variability of ΩHCHO, with summer values exceeding those in winter, spring, and fall by 62%, 45%, and 29%, respectively. TEMPO shows no consistent bias at any time of day with excellent agreement for different meteorological conditions. For all hourly differences between TEMPO and Pandora, 96% fall within 1 × 1016 molecules cm-2. TEMPO provides almost 50% more days with at least one observation compared to observations only at 1 pm. These findings confirm the high quality of TEMPO’s ΩHCHO measurements under a wide variety of conditions and show great promise for future scientific applications. Portions of this dataset are inaccessible because: All publicly available. They can be accessed through the following means: Via links provided. Format: Data Availability Statement. All data are publicly available. The Pandora data is available at PGN website (https://www.pandonia-global-network.org). Pandora data was accessed through the EPA’s RSIG tool (https://www.epa.gov/hesc/remote-sensing-information-gateway; last access April 2025). The TEMPO Level 2, version 3 data is available at NASA Earthdata ASDC website 545 (https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/). The meteorological data is available at NOAA ISD Lite database (ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/noaa/isd-lite/). The AERONET AOD data is available via NASA GFSC website (https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/). This dataset is associated with the following publication: Rawat, P., K. Travis, B. Henderson, J. Crawford, L.M. Judd, M.A. Demetillo, T. Lee, D. Flittner, J. Szykman, L. Valin, A. Whitehill, E. Baumann, T. Hanisco, A. Pandey, G. Abad, C. Nowlan, X. Liu, and K. Chance. Spatiotemporal Assessment of the TEMPO Formaldehyde Column Retrieval Using the Pandonia Global Network. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: ATMOSPHERES. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, USA, 131(2): e2025JD044788, (2026).

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Complete Metadata
accessLevel public
bureauCode 
                                            [
  "020:00"
]
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "Barron Henderson",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:henderson.barron@epa.gov"
}
description Abstract copied from manuscript July 21, 2025 Launched in April 2023, the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO), instrument provides for the first time hourly measurements of atmospheric pollutants over most of North America at high spatial resolution (˜ 2 × 4.75 km2). This evaluation of TEMPO’s first year demonstrates the capability of total formaldehyde column retrievals (ΩHCHO, version 3) at different locations, seasons, and meteorological conditions. The ΩHCHO product is assessed using 36 ground-based Pandora direct-sun measurements from Pandonia Global Network (PGN) as a reference dataset. The 36 PGN sites were chosen for consistency in direct-sun and sky-scan measurement modes. In the first year of operation, TEMPO ΩHCHO exhibit moderate to strong agreement at PGN sites in both measurement modes (R2 = 0.63 to 0.85). TEMPO shows a small bias of -2 ± 20% at lower ΩHCHO (< 1.0×1016 molecule cm-2) and a larger underestimation of -22 ± 5% at higher ΩHCHO (> 1.5×1016 molecule cm-2). TEMPO clearly captures the seasonal variability of ΩHCHO, with summer values exceeding those in winter, spring, and fall by 62%, 45%, and 29%, respectively. TEMPO shows no consistent bias at any time of day with excellent agreement for different meteorological conditions. For all hourly differences between TEMPO and Pandora, 96% fall within 1 × 1016 molecules cm-2. TEMPO provides almost 50% more days with at least one observation compared to observations only at 1 pm. These findings confirm the high quality of TEMPO’s ΩHCHO measurements under a wide variety of conditions and show great promise for future scientific applications. Portions of this dataset are inaccessible because: All publicly available. They can be accessed through the following means: Via links provided. Format: Data Availability Statement. All data are publicly available. The Pandora data is available at PGN website (https://www.pandonia-global-network.org). Pandora data was accessed through the EPA’s RSIG tool (https://www.epa.gov/hesc/remote-sensing-information-gateway; last access April 2025). The TEMPO Level 2, version 3 data is available at NASA Earthdata ASDC website 545 (https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/). The meteorological data is available at NOAA ISD Lite database (ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/noaa/isd-lite/). The AERONET AOD data is available via NASA GFSC website (https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/). This dataset is associated with the following publication: Rawat, P., K. Travis, B. Henderson, J. Crawford, L.M. Judd, M.A. Demetillo, T. Lee, D. Flittner, J. Szykman, L. Valin, A. Whitehill, E. Baumann, T. Hanisco, A. Pandey, G. Abad, C. Nowlan, X. Liu, and K. Chance. Spatiotemporal Assessment of the TEMPO Formaldehyde Column Retrieval Using the Pandonia Global Network. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH: ATMOSPHERES. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, USA, 131(2): e2025JD044788, (2026).
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "title": "https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/",
    "accessURL": "https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/"
  },
  {
    "title": "https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/",
    "accessURL": "https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/"
  },
  {
    "title": "https://www.epa.gov/hesc/remote-sensing-information-gateway",
    "accessURL": "https://www.epa.gov/hesc/remote-sensing-information-gateway"
  },
  {
    "title": "https://www.pandonia-global-network.org",
    "accessURL": "https://www.pandonia-global-network.org"
  }
]
identifier https://doi.org/10.23719/1532494
keyword 
                                            [
  "Geostationary Satellite",
  "atmospheric chemistry",
  "column formaldehyde",
  "pandora"
]
license https://pasteur.epa.gov/license/sciencehub-license.html
modified 2025-07-31
programCode 
                                            [
  "020:000"
]
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency",
  "subOrganizationOf": {
    "name": "U.S. Government"
  }
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://doi.org/10.1029/2025jd044788"
]
rights 
                                            null
spatial -135.0,18.0,-55.0,55.0
title Spatiotemporal Assessment of the TEMPO Formaldehyde Column Retrieval using the Pandonia Global Network

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