Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III/International Space Station

Launched on February 19, 2017 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center, the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station (SAGE III-ISS) is the second instrument from the SAGE III project, externally mounted on the International Space Station (ISS). This ISS-based instrument uses a technique known as occultation, which involves looking at the light from the Sun or Moon as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere at the edge, or limb, of the planet to provide long-term monitoring of ozone vertical profiles of the stratosphere and mesosphere. The data provided by SAGE III-ISS includes key components of atmospheric composition and their long-term variability, focusing on the study of aerosols, chlorine dioxide, clouds, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen trioxide, pressure and temperature, and water vapor. SAGE data has historically been used by the World Meteorological Organization to inform their periodic assessments of ozone depletion. These new observations from the International Space Station will continue the SAGE team's contributions to ongoing scientific understanding of the Earth's atmosphere.

The initial release of SAGE III-ISS products focuses on solar occultation. While not included initially, later releases will include lunar occultation and water vapor data. Subsequent data releases will follow a monthly release schedule.

Disciplines:   Aerosols
Legacy Products
Collection Disciplines Spatial Temporal
g3baer_11
SAGE III/ISS L2 Monthly Aerosol Product (netCDF) V011 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-01 - 2024-12-01
g3blmnc_53
SAGE III/ISS L2 Monthly Lunar Event Species Profiles (NetCDF) V053 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-30 - 2024-12-01
g3blmnc_6
SAGE III/ISS L2 Monthly Lunar Event Species Profiles (NetCDF) V006 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-31 - Present
g3blsp_53
SAGE III/ISS L2 Lunar Event Species Profiles (HDF5) V053 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-31 - 2024-11-24
g3blsp_6
SAGE III/ISS L2 Lunar Event Species Profiles (HDF5) V006 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-31 - Present
g3blspb_53
SAGE III/ISS L2 Lunar Event Species Profiles (Native) V053 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-31 - 2024-11-24
g3blspb_6
SAGE III/ISS L2 Lunar Event Species Profiles (Native) V006 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-31 - Present
g3bsmnc_53
SAGE III/ISS L2 Monthly Solar Event Species Profiles (NetCDF) V053 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-31 - 2024-12-01
g3bsmnc_6
SAGE III/ISS L2 Monthly Solar Event Species Profiles (NetCDF) V006 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - Present
g3bssp_53
SAGE III/ISS L2 Solar Event Species Profiles (HDF5) V053 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - 2024-12-01
g3bssp_6
SAGE III/ISS L2 Solar Event Species Profiles (HDF5) V006 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - Present
g3bsspb_53
SAGE III/ISS L2 Solar Event Species Profiles (Native) V053 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - 2024-12-01
g3bsspb_6
SAGE III/ISS L2 Solar Event Species Profiles (Native) V006 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - Present
Collection Disciplines Spatial Temporal
g3bt_53
SAGE III/ISS L1B Solar Event Transmission Data (HDF5) V053 		Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - 2024-11-30
g3bt_6
SAGE III/ISS L1B Solar Event Transmission Data (HDF5) V006 		Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - Present
g3btb_53
SAGE III/ISS L1B Solar Event Transmission Data (Native) V053 		Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - 2024-11-30
g3btb_6
SAGE III/ISS L1B Solar Event Transmission Data (Native) V006 		Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - Present
g3btmnc_53
SAGE III/ISS L1B Monthly Solar Event Transmission Data (NetCDF) V053 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-05-31 - 2024-11-30
g3btmnc_6
SAGE III/ISS L1B Monthly Solar Event Transmission Data (NetCDF) V006 		Aerosols,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2017-06-07 - Present

SAGE III-ISS Mission Publications

Rozanov, Alexei; Pohl, Christine; Arosio, Carlo; Bourassa, Adam; Bramstedt, Klaus; Malinina, Elizaveta; Rieger, Landon; Burrows, John P. (2024). Retrieval of stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficients from sun-normalized Ozone Mapper and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) measurements.


Dumelié, N.; Vernier, J.-P.; Berthet, G.; Vernier, H.; Renard, J.-B.; Rastogi, N.; Wienhold, F.; Combaz, D.; Angot, M.; Burgalat, J.; Parent, F.; Chauvin, N.; Albora, G.; Dagaut, P.; Benoit, R.; Kovilakam, M.; Crevoisier, C.; Joly, L. (2024). Toward Rapid Balloon Experiments for Sudden Aerosol Injection in the Stratosphere (REAS) by Volcanic Eruptions and Wildfires.


Thomason, Larry W.; Knepp, Travis (2023). Quantifying SAGE II (1984–2005) and SAGE III/ISS (2017–2022) observations of smoke in the stratosphere.


Bhatta, Surendra; Pandit, Amit K.; Loughman, Robert P.; Vernier, Jean-Paul (2023). Three-wavelength approach for aerosol-cloud discrimination in the SAGE III/ISS aerosol extinction dataset.


Bourassa, Adam E.; Zawada, Daniel J.; Rieger, Landon A.; Warnock, Taran W.; Toohey, Matthew; Degenstein, Doug A. (2023). Tomographic Retrievals of Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai Volcanic Aerosol.


Wargan, Krzysztof; Weir, Brad; Manney, Gloria L.; Cohn, Stephen E.; Knowland, K. Emma; Wales, Pamela A.; Livesey, Nathaniel J. (2023). M2‐SCREAM: A Stratospheric Composition Reanalysis of Aura MLS Data With MERRA‐2 Transport.


Kluge, Flora; Hüneke, Tilman; Lerot, Christophe; Rosanka, Simon; Rotermund, Meike K.; Taraborrelli, Domenico; Weyland, Benjamin; Pfeilsticker, Klaus (2023). Airborne glyoxal measurements in the marine and continental atmosphere: comparison with TROPOMI observations and EMAC simulations.


Khaykin, Sergey; Podglajen, Aurelien; Ploeger, Felix; Grooß, Jens-Uwe; Tence, Florent; Bekki, Slimane; Khlopenkov, Konstantin; Bedka, Kristopher; Rieger, Landon; Baron, Alexandre; Godin-Beekmann, Sophie; Legras, Bernard; Sellitto, Pasquale; Sakai, Tetsu; Barnes, John; Uchino, Osamu; Morino, Isamu; Nagai, Tomohiro; Wing, Robin; Baumgarten, Gerd; Gerding, Michael; Duflot, Valentin; Payen, Guillaume; Jumelet, Julien; Querel, Richard; Liley, Ben; Bourassa, Adam; Clouser, Benjamin; Feofilov, Artem; Hauchecorne, Alain; Ravetta, François (2022). Global perturbation of stratospheric water and aerosol burden by Hunga eruption.


Kalnajs, Lars E.; Deshler, Terry (2022). A New Instrument for Balloon‐Borne In Situ Aerosol Size Distribution Measurements, the Continuation of a 50 Year Record of Stratospheric Aerosols Measurements.


Chen, Zhong; Bhartia, Pawan K.; Loughman, Robert; Colarco, Peter; DeLand, Matthew (2022). Improvement of stratospheric aerosol extinction retrieval from OMPS/LP using a new aerosol model.


Wrana, Felix; von Savigny, Christian; Zalach, Jacob; Thomason, Larry W. (2022). Retrieval of stratospheric aerosol size distribution parameters using satellite solar occultation measurements at three wavelengths.


Taha, Ghassan; Loughman, Robert; Zhu, Tong; Thomason, Larry; Kar, Jayanta; Rieger, Landon; Bourassa, Adam (2022). OMPS LP Version 2.0 multi-wavelength aerosol extinction coefficient retrieval algorithm.


Das, Sampa; Colarco, Peter R.; Oman, Luke D.; Taha, Ghassan; Torres, Omar (2021). The long-term transport and radiative impacts of the 2017 British Columbia pyrocumulonimbus smoke aerosols in the stratosphere.


Khaykin, Sergey; Legras, Bernard; Bucci, Silvia; Sellitto, Pasquale; Isaksen, Lars; Tencé, Florent; Bekki, Slimane; Bourassa, Adam; Rieger, Landon; Zawada, Daniel; Jumelet, Julien; Godin-Beekmann, Sophie (2021). The 2019/20 Australian wildfires generated a persistent smoke-charged vortex rising up to 35 km altitude.


Park, Mijeong; Randel, William J.; Damadeo, Robert P.; Flittner, David E.; Davis, Sean M.; Rosenlof, Karen H.; Livesey, Nathaniel; Lambert, Alyn; Read, William (2020). Near‐Global Variability of Stratospheric Water Vapor Observed by SAGE III/ISS.


Schoeberl, Mark; Jensen, Eric; Wang, Tao; Taha, Ghassan; Ueyama, Rei; Wang, Yi; DeLand, Matthew; Dessler, Andrew (2020). Cloud and Aerosol Distributions From SAGE III/ISS Observations.


Kloss, Corinna; Berthet, Gwenaël; Sellitto, Pasquale; Ploeger, Felix; Bucci, Silvia; Khaykin, Sergey; Jégou, Fabrice; Taha, Ghassan; Thomason, Larry W.; Barret, Brice; Le Flochmoen, Eric; von Hobe, Marc; Bossolasco, Adriana; Bègue, Nelson; Legras, Bernard (2019). Transport of the 2017 Canadian wildfire plume to the tropics via the Asian monsoon circulation.


Kar, Jayanta; Lee, Kam-Pui; Vaughan, Mark A.; Tackett, Jason L.; Trepte, Charles R.; Winker, David M.; Lucker, Patricia L.; Getzewich, Brian J. (2018). CALIPSO level 3 stratospheric aerosol profile product: version 1.00 algorithm description and initial assessment.


Rotermund, Meike K.; Bense, Vera; Chipperfield, Martyn P.; Engel, Andreas; Grooß, Jens-Uwe; Hoor, Peter; Hüneke, Tilman; Keber, Timo; Kluge, Flora; Schreiner, Benjamin; Schuck, Tanja; Vogel, Bärbel; Zahn, Andreas; Pfeilsticker, Klaus (2018). Organic and inorganic bromine measurements around the extratropical tropopause and lowermost stratosphere: insights into the transport pathways and total bromine.


Bognar, Kristof; Tegtmeier, Susann; Bourassa, Adam; Roth, Chris; Warnock, Taran; Zawada, Daniel; Degenstein, Doug (2016). Stratospheric ozone trends for 1984–2021 in the SAGE II–OSIRIS–SAGE III/ISS composite dataset.


Natarajan, Murali; Damadeo, Robert; Flittner, David (2015). Solar occultation measurement of mesospheric ozone by SAGE III/ISS: impact of variations along the line of sight caused by photochemistry.


Strode, Sarah A.; Taha, Ghassan; Oman, Luke D.; Damadeo, Robert; Flittner, David; Schoeberl, Mark; Sioris, Christopher E.; Stauffer, Ryan (2014). SAGE III/ISS ozone and NO2 validation using diurnal scaling factors.


Lee, Hsiang‐He; Lundquist, Katherine A.; Tang, Qi (2012). Pyrocumulonimbus Events Over British Columbia in 2017: An Ensemble Model Study of Parameter Sensitivities and Climate Impacts of Wildfire Smoke in the Stratosphere.