Nimbus-7 SMMR Antenna Temperatures

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Entry ID

NSIDC-0037

Summary

The SMMR Antenna Temperatures (Nimbus-7) data set consists of antenna temperatures from passive microwave radiometers aboard NOAA's Nimbus-7 satellite. The instrument is the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR). Each file consists of one days worth of data in swath format, i.e. the portion of the Earth's surface viewed by the scanning radiometer. Antenna temperature data are available from NSIDC from October 1978 to August 1987. SMMR was a ten channel passive microwave instrument using six conventional Dicke-type radiometers. It delivered orthogonally polarized antenna temperature data at five frequencies (6.6, 10.69, 18.0 21.0 and 37.0 GHz). The two 37.0 GHz radiometers operated continuously for each polarization. The other radiometers alternated polarizations on alternate scans. The size of each daily file is 35 MBytes. The data are distributed on 8 mm tape. Copies of the data format description are available upon request from NSIDC.

The scanner operated only on alternate days, due to spacecraft power limitations. There are typically at least 14 days of coverage per month, although major data gaps occur in August: in August, 1982, the 4th, 8th, and 16th are missing for both polar regions; in August, 1984, the 13th through the 23rd are missing for both polar regions.

Data Set Citation

Dataset Title: Nimbus-7 SMMR Antenna Temperatures
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, CO U.S.A.
Dataset Publisher: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0037.html

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1978-10-25
Stop Date: 1987-08-20

Location Keywords

• Geographic Region Global
• Vertical Location Troposphere

Science Keywords

• Spectral/Engineering Microwave Antenna Temperature

Ancillary Keywords

• Antenna Temperature
• EOSDIS
• IDN_NODE GSFC/MSFC DAAC
• Passive Microwave
• Sensor Counts
• TA
• TAT

Platform

• NIMBUS-7
• SATELLITES

Instrument

• RADIOMETERS
• SMMR Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer

Project

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

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Data Center

National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org
Data Set ID: NSIDC-0037

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: NSIDC-0037

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: 8mm tape
Distribution Format: HDF

Personnel

NSIDC USER SERVICES
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
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

Reference

Systems and Applied Sciences Corporation, 1982: Users' Guide for the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer Instrument First Year Antenna Temperature Data Set. Systems and Applied Sciences Corporation Technical Document.

Metadata Name and Version

Metadata Name: CEOS IDN DIF
Metadata Version: 9.7

Creation and Review Dates

Last DIF Revision Date: 2001-10-04

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