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NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of MSU Level 1c Brightness Temperature, Version 1.0

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:15 PM | Dataset Last Updated: August 01, 2013 at 12:00 AM
This dataset contains Level 1c inter-calibrated brightness temperatures from the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) sensors onboard nine polar orbiting satellites (TIROS-N, NOAA-6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, and -14) spanning from 1978 to 2006. The dataset was produced by the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), and is a Fundamental Climate Data Record (FCDR) of microwave brightness temperatures in the NOAA CDR Program. MSU is a four-channel microwave radiometer measuring at 50.3, 53.74, 54.96, and 57.95 GHz, and has ground spatial resolution of about 250 km in diameter at nadir. The native MSU Level 1b data were inter-calibrated using the Integrated Microwave Inter-Calibration Approach (IMICA) method to obtain a long-term data product to be used in climate analyses. For comparison, data files also include the operational data used in NWP forecasting along with the IMICA calibrated radiances, which minimize or remove the biases found in the operational calibration. In addition, limb adjusted radiances for both the IMICA and operational calibrations are included for certain type of climate applications, such as atmospheric layer temperature development using the radiance datasets. The orbital swath data files include MSU channels 2 through 4 for the IMICA calibration, and channels 1 through 4 for the operational calibration. The inter-calibrated MSU data are not expected to change for the dataset time period.

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Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Microwave > Brightness Temperature NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program NOAA OneStop Project Satellite Geographic Region > Global MSU > Microwave Sounding Unit TIROS-N > Television Infrared Observation Satellite-N NOAA-6 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-6

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
{
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  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.orders@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description This dataset contains Level 1c inter-calibrated brightness temperatures from the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) sensors onboard nine polar orbiting satellites (TIROS-N, NOAA-6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, and -14) spanning from 1978 to 2006. The dataset was produced by the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), and is a Fundamental Climate Data Record (FCDR) of microwave brightness temperatures in the NOAA CDR Program. MSU is a four-channel microwave radiometer measuring at 50.3, 53.74, 54.96, and 57.95 GHz, and has ground spatial resolution of about 250 km in diameter at nadir. The native MSU Level 1b data were inter-calibrated using the Integrated Microwave Inter-Calibration Approach (IMICA) method to obtain a long-term data product to be used in climate analyses. For comparison, data files also include the operational data used in NWP forecasting along with the IMICA calibrated radiances, which minimize or remove the biases found in the operational calibration. In addition, limb adjusted radiances for both the IMICA and operational calibrations are included for certain type of climate applications, such as atmospheric layer temperature development using the radiance datasets. The orbital swath data files include MSU channels 2 through 4 for the IMICA calibration, and channels 1 through 4 for the operational calibration. The inter-calibrated MSU data are not expected to change for the dataset time period.
distribution 
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C00786.xml
issued 2013-08-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
[
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Microwave > Brightness Temperature",
  "NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program",
  "NOAA OneStop Project",
  "Satellite",
  "Geographic Region > Global",
  "MSU > Microwave Sounding Unit",
  "TIROS-N > Television Infrared Observation Satellite-N",
  "NOAA-6 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-6",
  "NOAA-7 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-7",
  "NOAA-8 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-8",
  "NOAA-9 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-9",
  "NOAA-10 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-10",
  "NOAA-11 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-11",
  "NOAA-12 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-12",
  "NOAA-14 > National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration-14",
  "> 1 km",
  "Hourly - < Daily",
  "50 km  - < 100 km or approximately .5 degree - < 1 degree",
  "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",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/STAR > Center for Satellite Applications and Research, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce"
]
landingPage https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2013-08-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
[
  "https://doi.org/10.25923/e6pf-sq49",
  "https://doi.org/10.7289/V5X63JT2"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1978-01-01T00:00:00+00:00/2006-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of MSU Level 1c Brightness Temperature, Version 1.0

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