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    • SCAMS/Nimbus-6 Level 2 Water Vapor and Temperature, as well as Antenna and Brightness Temperature V001 (SCAMSN6L2) at GES DISC

    Metadata Updated: December 6, 2023

    The Nimbus-6 Scanning Microwave Spectrometer (SCAMS) Level 2 data product contains water vapor and temperature profiles, as well as antenna and brightness temperatures. SCAMS was designed to map tropospheric temperature profiles, water vapor abundance, and cloud water content to be used for weather prediction even in the presence of clouds, which block conventional satellite infrared sensors. The data, originally written on IBM 360 machines, were recovered from 9-track magnetic tapes. The data are archived in their original IBM 32-bit word binary record format, also referred to as a binary TAP file, and contain one orbit of measurements.

    The SCAMS experiment on Nimbus-6 is a follow on to the successful Nimbus-5 NEMS experiment. SCAMS continuously monitored emitted microwave radiation at frequencies of 22.235, 31.65, 52.85, 53.85 and 55.45 GHz. The three channels near the 5.0-mm oxygen absorption band were used primarily to deduce atmospheric temperature profiles. The two channels near 10 mm permitted water vapor and cloud water content over calm oceans to be estimated separately. The instrument, a Dicke-superheterodyne type, scanned +/- 45 degrees normal to the orbital plane with a 10 degree field of view. The three oxygen channels shared common signal and reference antennas. Both water vapor channels had their own signals and reference antennas. The absolute rms accuracy of the oxygen channels was better than 2 Kelvin and that of the water vapor channels better than 1 Kelvin.
    The SCAMS Principal Investigator was Prof. David H. Staelin from MIT. The Nimbus-6 SCAMS data are available from June 15, 1975 (day of year 166) through May 31, 1976 (day of year 152).

    This product was previously available from the NSSDC with the identifier ESAD-00093 (old ID 75-052A-10A).

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date December 6, 2023

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NASA Data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    Graphic Preview

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date December 6, 2023
    Publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/GCDC/GESDISC
    Maintainer
    Identifier C1273652168-GES_DISC
    Data First Published 1975-06-15
    Language en-US
    Data Last Modified 1976-05-31
    Category Nimbus, geospatial
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 026:00
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Metadata Catalog ID https://data.nasa.gov/data.json
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Citation Staelin, David H., et al.. 2014-08-01. SCAMSN6L2. Version 001. SCAMS/Nimbus-6 Level 2 Water Vapor and Temperature, as well as Antenna and Brightness Temperature V001. Greenbelt, MD, USA. Archived by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Government, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datacollection/SCAMSN6L2_001.html. Digital Science Data.
    Creator Staelin, David H., et al.
    Data Presentation Form Digital Science Data
    Graphic Preview File https://docserver.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/public/project/Images/SCAMSN6L2_001.png
    Harvest Object Id 4b819acb-bdac-4feb-b83e-fa0d257805cb
    Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
    Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
    Homepage URL https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov:443/search/concepts/C1273652168-GES_DISC.html
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial -180.0 -90.0 180.0 90.0
    Program Code 026:001
    Release Place Greenbelt, MD, USA
    Series Name SCAMSN6L2
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 90df05c51b95d26ac90d074fc6e4fc71f60c2165e389d4f33511f2a01a568bb4
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 1975-06-15T00:00:00Z/1976-05-31T23:59:59.999Z

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