Summary

Description

This NOAA Fundamental Climate Data Record (FCDR) from Colorado State University (CSU) contains brightness temperatures that have been improved and quality-controlled over the observation time period. The temperature data are from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) series of passive microwave radiometers carried onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites. This dataset encompasses data from a total of nine satellites including the SSM/I sensors on board DMSP satellites F08, F10, F11, F13, F14, and F15 as well as the SSMIS sensors on board DMSP satellites F16, F17, and F18. The data record covers the time period from July 1987 through the present with a 7 to 10 day latency. The spatial and temporal resolutions of the FCDR files correspond to the original resolution of the source TDR observations. There are roughly 15 orbits per day with a swath width of approximately 1400 km resulting in nearly global daily coverage. The spatial resolution of the data is a function of the sensor/channel and varies from approximately ~50 km for the lowest frequency channels to ~15km for the high-frequency channels. The processing of the FCDR from the BASE Temperature Data Record (TDR) (also produced by CSU) includes a rigorous quality control of the original TDR data, updated geolocation information, corrections for known issues/problems, and adjustments for residual intercalibration differences between sensors. The output parameters include the observed brightness temperatures for each of the seven SSM/I channels and 24 SSMIS channels at the original sensor channel resolution along with latitude and longitude for each pixel, time, quality flags, and view angle information. The file format is netCDF-4 with added metadata that follow the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions and Attribute Convention for Dataset Discovery (ACDD).