Best Practices for Viewing TEMPO Standard and Near Real-Time Imagery in Worldview
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ASDC - jennifer.tindell
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Best Practices for Viewing TEMPO Standard and Near Real-Time Imagery in Worldview
What are the best practices for viewing TEMPO standard and near real-time imagery in Worldview?
Last edited by ASDC - jennifer.tindell on Wed Feb 18, 2026 1:04 pm America/New_York, edited 1 time in total.
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ASDC - jennifer.tindell
- Subject Matter Expert
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2019 12:51 pm America/New_York
Re: Best Practices for Viewing TEMPO Standard and Near Real-Time Imagery in Worldview
Reprocessing of TEMPO V03 imagery into V04 imagery
The TEMPO V03 imagery from August 2, 2023 to September 16, 2025 is being reprocessed utilizing the latest V04 algorithms, with the V04 imagery becoming publicly available upon reprocessing. The imagery is being reprocessed nonchronologically based on operational priorities.
Level 2:
Each TEMPO Level 2 V03 granule image remains visible in Worldview until that specific granule has been reprocessed into V04; at that point, that specific V03 image is replaced by the new V04 image. As the TEMPO data reprocessing is occurring in a nonchronological order, this will result in a mix of V03 and V04 imagery (e.g., for a time, September 1-30, 2023 may be V04 imagery, but October 2023 may still be V03). The version badge on the layer in the legend identifies which version of imagery is being displayed.
Level 3:
All TEMPO Level 3 V03 imagery has been removed from Worldview. All Level 3 standard product imagery visible is V04. However, the most recent images in the Level 3 layers may be Near Real-Time (NRT) V02 imagery. The version badge on the layer in the legend identifies which version of imagery is being displayed.
Note: When originally displayed, the TEMPO Level 3 V03 imagery was constrained to regular 30-minute timesteps. As the new Level 3 V04 and NRT imagery will honor the irregular timestamps in the source data, attempts to display both V03 and V04/NRT together create timestep conflicts. As a result, the Level 3 V03 imagery had to be removed to accommodate the new imagery.
Accessing TEMPO Imagery via NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) API
While the TEMPO V03 imagery is being replaced in Worldview, both the TEMPO Level 2 and Level 3 imagery will remain accessible via NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) API. This API includes methods to access multiple visualization service endpoints (e.g., OGC Web Map Tile Service (WMTS), OGC Web Map Service (WMS)), including guidance for accessing via Geographic Information System (GIS) applications and python. TEMPO V04 and NRT imagery are also available via the GIBS API.
Identifying TEMPO Imagery Data Versions Through Version Badges
Once a layer is added to the Worldview display, the data version for the image in the map viewer may be seen next to the layer name in the layer legend.
One-Minute Gaps Between TEMPO Level 3 Imagery
On occasion, users may notice a one minute gap between Level 3 images. This is a result of the lower temporal resolution of the Worldview mapper compared to the TEMPO source data; that is, the Worldview mapper’s smallest unit of time is a minute, while TEMPO’s timestamps are specific to the second. There are a number of times where one TEMPO scan ends in the same minute that the next scan starts. Because Worldview can only display one image per minute timeframe, each Level 3 scan is displayed for one fewer minutes than the actual time extent of the scan. This only affects the TEMPO Level 3 data as it has varied timesteps; the Level 2 are set in 6 minute timesteps.
To summarize the expected behavior:
Level 3 scans stop with their last minute truncated by one, while scans start at the correct start time, rounded down to the minute. For the minutes that have a scan end and start in that same minute, the first scan ends the minute before, and the next scan starts at the correct start time, matching the start of the Level 2 granule that corresponds to the start of the scan.
Example 1: Scan A ends at 2025-09-09 22:05:19 and Scan B starts at 2025-09-09 22:05:38. Scan A will display through 22:04:00 and Scan B will start at 22:05:00.
When one scan ends, but the next scan does not start until the next minute, because all scans are truncated by one minute, there is a gap of one minute during which no Level 3 scan is shown in the display.
Example 2: Scan A ends at 2025-09-10 14:04:59 and Scan B starts at 2025-09-10 14:05:18. Scan A will display through 14:03:00 and Scan B will start at 14:05:00.
Pixelation in TEMPO Ozone, Cloud Fraction Level 3 Imagery
The TEMPO Ozone, Cloud Fraction Level 3 imagery may occasionally appear pixelated. This pixelation occurs in the source data and the primary cause of these artifacts in the TEMPO O3TOT product is extremely high surface albedo over snow or ice regions. In such cases, because of the lack of accurate cloud information, the TEMPO O3TOT algorithm sets the effective cloud fraction "fc" to 0 for those pixels. The affected pixels appear larger than the native TEMPO resolution because the TEMPO O3TOT algorithm uses snow/ice information from the TOMS V8 climatology, which has a spatial resolution of 1 by 1 degrees.
Count of Level 2 Granules in Display
Be default, only one TEMPO Level 2 granule image is shown in the display at a time. Users may choose to view multiple granules at once by increasing the granule display number. This is done by hovering over the Layers entry for the Level 2 granule and clicking on the “view options” button that appears in the top right. On this popup screen, users can change the number of visible granules by using the slider “Granule Count.”
Additional Tips
The TEMPO V03 imagery from August 2, 2023 to September 16, 2025 is being reprocessed utilizing the latest V04 algorithms, with the V04 imagery becoming publicly available upon reprocessing. The imagery is being reprocessed nonchronologically based on operational priorities.
Level 2:
Each TEMPO Level 2 V03 granule image remains visible in Worldview until that specific granule has been reprocessed into V04; at that point, that specific V03 image is replaced by the new V04 image. As the TEMPO data reprocessing is occurring in a nonchronological order, this will result in a mix of V03 and V04 imagery (e.g., for a time, September 1-30, 2023 may be V04 imagery, but October 2023 may still be V03). The version badge on the layer in the legend identifies which version of imagery is being displayed.
Level 3:
All TEMPO Level 3 V03 imagery has been removed from Worldview. All Level 3 standard product imagery visible is V04. However, the most recent images in the Level 3 layers may be Near Real-Time (NRT) V02 imagery. The version badge on the layer in the legend identifies which version of imagery is being displayed.
Note: When originally displayed, the TEMPO Level 3 V03 imagery was constrained to regular 30-minute timesteps. As the new Level 3 V04 and NRT imagery will honor the irregular timestamps in the source data, attempts to display both V03 and V04/NRT together create timestep conflicts. As a result, the Level 3 V03 imagery had to be removed to accommodate the new imagery.
Accessing TEMPO Imagery via NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) API
While the TEMPO V03 imagery is being replaced in Worldview, both the TEMPO Level 2 and Level 3 imagery will remain accessible via NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) API. This API includes methods to access multiple visualization service endpoints (e.g., OGC Web Map Tile Service (WMTS), OGC Web Map Service (WMS)), including guidance for accessing via Geographic Information System (GIS) applications and python. TEMPO V04 and NRT imagery are also available via the GIBS API.
Identifying TEMPO Imagery Data Versions Through Version Badges
Once a layer is added to the Worldview display, the data version for the image in the map viewer may be seen next to the layer name in the layer legend.
One-Minute Gaps Between TEMPO Level 3 Imagery
On occasion, users may notice a one minute gap between Level 3 images. This is a result of the lower temporal resolution of the Worldview mapper compared to the TEMPO source data; that is, the Worldview mapper’s smallest unit of time is a minute, while TEMPO’s timestamps are specific to the second. There are a number of times where one TEMPO scan ends in the same minute that the next scan starts. Because Worldview can only display one image per minute timeframe, each Level 3 scan is displayed for one fewer minutes than the actual time extent of the scan. This only affects the TEMPO Level 3 data as it has varied timesteps; the Level 2 are set in 6 minute timesteps.
To summarize the expected behavior:
Level 3 scans stop with their last minute truncated by one, while scans start at the correct start time, rounded down to the minute. For the minutes that have a scan end and start in that same minute, the first scan ends the minute before, and the next scan starts at the correct start time, matching the start of the Level 2 granule that corresponds to the start of the scan.
Example 1: Scan A ends at 2025-09-09 22:05:19 and Scan B starts at 2025-09-09 22:05:38. Scan A will display through 22:04:00 and Scan B will start at 22:05:00.
When one scan ends, but the next scan does not start until the next minute, because all scans are truncated by one minute, there is a gap of one minute during which no Level 3 scan is shown in the display.
Example 2: Scan A ends at 2025-09-10 14:04:59 and Scan B starts at 2025-09-10 14:05:18. Scan A will display through 14:03:00 and Scan B will start at 14:05:00.
Pixelation in TEMPO Ozone, Cloud Fraction Level 3 Imagery
The TEMPO Ozone, Cloud Fraction Level 3 imagery may occasionally appear pixelated. This pixelation occurs in the source data and the primary cause of these artifacts in the TEMPO O3TOT product is extremely high surface albedo over snow or ice regions. In such cases, because of the lack of accurate cloud information, the TEMPO O3TOT algorithm sets the effective cloud fraction "fc" to 0 for those pixels. The affected pixels appear larger than the native TEMPO resolution because the TEMPO O3TOT algorithm uses snow/ice information from the TOMS V8 climatology, which has a spatial resolution of 1 by 1 degrees.
Count of Level 2 Granules in Display
Be default, only one TEMPO Level 2 granule image is shown in the display at a time. Users may choose to view multiple granules at once by increasing the granule display number. This is done by hovering over the Layers entry for the Level 2 granule and clicking on the “view options” button that appears in the top right. On this popup screen, users can change the number of visible granules by using the slider “Granule Count.”
Additional Tips
- Rendering Issues
If imagery does not appear to render correctly, users may try refreshing the browser or deleting the browser’s cache. - Time
The date and time used in Worldview is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).