Please see the TOMS Data FTP Site for more information. Descriptions of the TOMS Aerosol Index and Erythemal UV products are available. You will also find information on the NIMBUS-7 and the Earth Probe (EPTOMS) satellites, instruments, and data.
Copies of the the EPTOMS and NIMBUS7 User's Guides are available in PDF format:
The following is an excerpt about the monthly average aerosol index vales found in the "README" files in the monthly aerosol index directories at the TOMS data ftp site:
The aerosol monthly average data sets were computed using only positive values (i.e. absorbing aerosol indices) of the aerosol index for each month. Values of zero are used in the averaging anytime the aerosol index is negative. The final monthly average data sets contain aerosol index values greater than or equal to 0.7.
If these data are downloaded and used in publication, please give proper credit to the NASA/GSFC TOMS Ozone Processing Team.
For more information on the Earthprobe/TOMS or NIMBUS-7 datasets, contact
Dr. Richard D. McPeters
Code 916
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
mcpeters@wrabbit.gsfc.nasa.gov