The Multi-Satellite Lambertian Equivalent Reflectivity (Noon Normalized) 1 day L3 Global 5.0deg Lat Zones data product (MSLERNNL3zm) is derived from observations made by the Nimbus-7 SBUV, and NOAA 9, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 SBUV/2 instruments (340 nm), Nimbus-7 and Earth Probe TOMS (331 nm), OMI (340 nm) and SeaWiFS (412 nm) from 1978 to 2011. The Noon Normalized (NN) data have been corrected to local noon equator crossing time. The NN correction was applied only to data between latitudes 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south due to insufficient diurnal data at higher latitudes. The table below lists the date ranges for each instrument (note A = ascending node, D = descending node):

Instrument Start Date End Date ------------------ ---------- ---------- Nimbus-7 SBUV 1978-11-01 1990-06-21 NOAA-9 SBUV/2 (A) 1985-02-02 1991-09-03 NOAA-9 SBUV/2 (D) 1990-04-25 1997-05-31 NOAA-11 SBUV/2 (A) 1988-12-01 1995-03-31 NOAA-11 SBUV/2 (D) 1997-07-15 2001-03-26 NOAA-14 SBUV/2 (A) 1995-02-05 2002-09-11 NOAA-14 SBUV/2 (D) 2002-04-09 2006-09-28 NOAA-16 SBUV/2 (A) 2000-10-03 2009-09-15 NOAA-16 SBUV/2 (D) 2008-04-28 2012-12-31 NOAA-17 SBUV/2 2002-07-10 2012-12-31 NOAA-18 SBUV/2 2005-06-05 2012-12-12 Nimbus-7 TOMS 1978-11-01 1993-05-06 EarthProbe TOMS 1996-07-25 2004-06-21 Aura OMI 2005-01-01 2008-12-31 SeaStar SeaWiFS 1998-01-01 2008-12-30

The scene reflectivities of the Earth at blue and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (320 nm to 415 nm) are low over most surfaces (except ice and snow), and are almost independent of the seasonal changes in vegetation on land and in the oceans. This makes it ideal for examining changes in radiation reflected back to space from changes in cloud and aerosol amounts, especially as affected by the start of climate change.

The MSLERNNL3zm data are archived in the HDF-EOS5 file format using the Zonal Average (ZA) model. The product consists of a single data file representing the entire data set containing the individual instrument data in separate time versus latitude arrays. Each data array contains attributes describing the variable, and the file contains metadata stored in the HDFEOS file attribute section.