DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Brightness Temperatures

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Entry ID

NSIDC-0001

Summary

NSIDC produces daily gridded brightness temperature (T_B) data from orbital (swath) data generated by the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) mounted on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F8, F11, and F13 platforms. The gridded brightness temperatures are distributed in polar stereographic projection.

SSM/I is a seven-channel, four-frequency, orthogonally polarized passive microwave radiometric system. The channels are 19.3 GHz vertical and horizontal, 22.2 GHz vertical only, 37.0 GHz vertical and horizontal, and 85.5 GHz vertical and horizontal. Orbital data for each 24-hour period are mapped to respective grid cells using a simple 'drop in the bucket' sum and average method. 85.5 GHz data are gridded at a resolution of 12.5 km, with all other frequencies at a resolution of 25 km. All SSM/I T_B gridded data are stored as scaled 2-byte integers in flat binary arrays and are available via FTP.

Data Set Citation

Dataset Title: DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Brightness Temperatures
Dataset Release Date: 2006-01-01
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, Colorado U.S.A.
Dataset Publisher: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
Version: 2
Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0001.html

Dataset Title: DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Brightness Temperatures
Dataset Release Date: 1989-01-01
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, CO U.S.A.
Dataset Publisher: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1987-07-09

Data Resolution

Latitude Resolution: 25 km
Longitude Resolution: 25 km
Temporal Resolution: Daily

Latitude Resolution: 12.5 km
Longitude Resolution: 12.5 km
Temporal Resolution: Daily

Location Keywords

• Continent North America Canada Hudson Bay
• Geographic Region Polar
• Ocean Arctic Ocean Baffin Bay
• Ocean Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea
• Ocean Arctic Ocean Chukchi Sea
• Ocean Atlantic Ocean North Atlantic Ocean
• Ocean Atlantic Ocean North Atlantic Ocean Greenland Sea
• Ocean Pacific Ocean North Pacific Ocean Bering Sea
• Ocean Southern Ocean Amundsen Sea

Science Keywords

• Spectral/Engineering Microwave Brightness Temperature

Ancillary Keywords

• Antarctic
• Arctic
• EOSDIS
• Gridded Data
• NSIDC DAAC
• Passive Microwave
• Polar
• Remote Sensing

ISO Topic Category (View Definitions)

• Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere

Platform

• DMSP 5D-2/F11 Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F11
• DMSP 5D-2/F13 Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F13
• DMSP 5D-2/F8 Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F8

Instrument

• SSM/I Special Sensor Microwave/Imager

Project

• EOSDIS Earth Observing System Data Information System
• ESIP Earth Science Information Partners Program

Quality

Beginning with January 2000, processing of TB data was modified to include two additional quality control steps. The first performs a statistical analysis on the TB data to look for possible calibration errors. The second was an along-scan adjustment that corrects for interference by the cold-space reflector at scans of 100 or greater, and the difference between antenna temperature observations and the Wentz radiative transfer model. Corrections can be as large as one kelvin. TB data that included these additional quality control steps are only available for dates after January 2000.

Data Set Progress

IN WORK

Data Center

National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org
Data Set ID: NSIDC-0001

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC User Services
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/daac/index.html
Data Set ID: SI-070

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC DAAC User Services
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: FTP
Distribution Format: binary

Personnel

JIM MASLANIK
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Phone: (303) 492-6199
Fax: (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@kryos.colorado.edu
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309

Julienne Stroeve
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Email: stroeve@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309

Walt Meier
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Email: walt@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309
Country: USA

NSIDC User Services
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: (303) 492-6199
Fax: (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Related URL

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Frequently asked questions.

Reference

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Metadata Version: 9.7

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Last DIF Revision Date: 2006-08-11

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