DMSP SSM/I Pathfinder Daily EASE-Grid Brightness Temperatures

Data Contributors

ARMSTRONG, RICHARD

Parameters

BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE

Instruments

SSM/I : SPECIAL SENSOR MICROWAVE/IMAGER

The NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Program Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) Level 3 Equal-Area Scalable Earth-Grid (EASE-Grid) Brightness Temperatures consist of gridded data in one of three projections, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere and full global. The data gridding technique maximizes the radiometric integrity of the original brightness temperature values, maintains high spatial and temporal precision, and involves no averaging of original swath data.

Coverage is global and begins 9 July 1987; processing is ongoing. Resolution is 25 km for all channels; 85 GHz channels are also provided at 12.5 km resolution. There are 18 brightness temperature files per day for a given projection, and two corresponding time files. Data are contained in flat binary files, either one grid per file consisting of 2-byte integer arrays of brightness temperatures in tenths of kelvins, or in the case of time files, 1-byte integer arrays consisting of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in tenths of hours.

Data are available via FTP as processing is completed. Users can order temporal or spatial subsets of data with the Graphical Interface for Subsetting, Mapping, and Ordering (GISMO) Web-based tool. Users can also request the complete data set or a long time series of data. Users may also order historical data on CD-ROM, while supplies last.

For more information about related projects, please see NOAA/NASA Polar Pathfinder Data. For more information on the NSIDC EASE-Grid, geolocation tools for working in EASE-Grid, and other products available in EASE-Grid, please see All About EASE-Grid.

Data Citation

The following example shows how to cite the use of this data set in a publication. List the principal investigators, year of data set release, data set title, dates of data you used (for example, June to September 2001), publishers (NSIDC), and digital media.

Armstrong, R. L., K. W. Knowles, M. J. Brodzik and M. A. Hardman. 1994, updated current year. DMSP SSM/I Pathfinder daily EASE-Grid brightness temperatures, [list dates of data used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Digital media.