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NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of IR Sounder Upper Tropospheric Humidity BT, Version 4.0

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:27 PM | Dataset Last Updated: January 01, 2023 at 12:00 AM
This dataset covers the IR Sounder Upper Trop Humidity BT CDR that is based on the high-Resolution Infrared Sounder (HIRS) suite of intersatellite calibrated channel 12 brightness temperature (BT) and from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurement that is used to derive equivalent HIRS channel 12 BT. The channel is designed to measure upper tropospheric humidity. Cloud-screening is performed and clear-sky pixels are used to generate the product. The time series has a global coverage in monthly 2.5x2.5 degree latitude/longitude from 1978 to the present. It is developed at NCEI as version 4.0. The data are in NetCDF format, with a total volume of approximately 25 MB.

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NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program Satellite Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Brightness Temperature Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Water Vapour Vertical Location > Troposphere Vertical Location > Troposphere NOAA OneStop Project

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
accrualPeriodicity R/P1M
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:ir.sounder.uth.bt.contacts@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description This dataset covers the IR Sounder Upper Trop Humidity BT CDR that is based on the high-Resolution Infrared Sounder (HIRS) suite of intersatellite calibrated channel 12 brightness temperature (BT) and from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurement that is used to derive equivalent HIRS channel 12 BT. The channel is designed to measure upper tropospheric humidity. Cloud-screening is performed and clear-sky pixels are used to generate the product. The time series has a global coverage in monthly 2.5x2.5 degree latitude/longitude from 1978 to the present. It is developed at NCEI as version 4.0. The data are in NetCDF format, with a total volume of approximately 25 MB.
distribution 
                                            [
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    "title": "NCEI Dataset Landing Page",
    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.25921/mwe8-7e12",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Landing page for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI CDR Information Page",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/climate-data-records/ir-sounder-uth-brightness-temperature",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "CDR overview and documentation.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Direct Download (Dataset Files)",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/ir-sounder-upper-trop-humidity-bt/access/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Direct download for the dataset.",
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    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/ir-sounder-upper-trop-humidity-bt/doc/",
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    "description": "Direct download for the documentation.",
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    "title": "NCEI THREDDS",
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    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "THREDDS Data Server (TDS) for the dataset.",
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  {
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    "title": "Three decades of intersatellite-calibrated High-Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder upper tropospheric water vapor",
    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014847",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Paper on generating a climatologically homogenized time series of the upper tropospheric water vapor (UTWV), intersatellite calibration for 3 decades of HIRS Ch12 clear-sky measurements.",
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    "mediaType": "text/html",
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C01691.xml
issued 2023-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program",
  "Satellite",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor > Water Vapor",
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Brightness Temperature",
  "Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Water Vapour",
  "Vertical Location > Troposphere",
  "Vertical Location > Troposphere",
  "NOAA OneStop Project",
  "Earth Remote Sensing Instruments > Passive Remote Sensing > Profilers/Sounders > HIRS > High Resolution
							Infrared Radiation Sounder",
  "Earth Remote Sensing Instruments > Passive Remote Sensing > Profilers/Sounders > Interferometers > IASI > Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer",
  "Earth Observation Satellites > NOAA POES (Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites) > NOAA POES > NOAA
							Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Meteorological Operational Satellite (METOP) > METOP-A",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Meteorological Operational Satellite (METOP) > METOP-B",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Meteorological Operational Satellite (METOP) > METOP-C",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) > TIROS-N",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-6",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-7",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-8",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-9",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-10",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-11",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-12",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-14",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-15",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-16",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-17",
  "Space-based Platforms > Earth Observation Satellites > Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) > NOAA-19",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce"
]
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2023-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014847",
  "https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15030717",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C01701/html"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1978-11-22T00:00:00+00:00/1978-11-22T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of IR Sounder Upper Tropospheric Humidity BT, Version 4.0

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