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NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of SSMIS Microwave Brightness Temperatures, RSS Version 8

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:24 PM | Dataset Last Updated: October 01, 2019 at 12:00 AM
This dataset from Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) consists of satellite swath-level brightness temperatures from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS). SSMIS measures the natural microwave emission coming from the Earth’s surface in the spectral band from 19 to 85 GHz. There are roughly 15 orbits per day per satillite with a swath width of approximately 1400 km resulting in nearly global daily coverage. SSMIS onboard the DMSP F18 satellite is the first instrument that has been calibrated to the RSS Version 8 standard. The data record covers the time period from March 2010 through the present with a one month latency. Additional DMSP satellites for RSS Version 8 will follow as they are calibrated. This Version 8 is an update to Version 7 of the same product, also archived at NOAA/NCEI. Version 8 has improved calibration for land and ice scenes. The data file format is netCDF-4 with added metadata that follow the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions and Attribute Convention for Dataset Discovery (ACDD).

Resources

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  • NCEI Dataset Landing Page

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  • NCEI CDR Information Page

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  • NCEI Direct Download (Dataset Files)

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  • NCEI THREDDS

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  • NCEI Archive Information Request System (AIRS)

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  • Registry of Open Data on AWS

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  • AWS S3 Explorer (Region: us-east-1)

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  • Azure Landing Page (Region: us-east)

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  • SSMI(S) Brightness Temperature - RSS Version 7

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  • NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of SSM/I and SSMIS Microwave Brightness Temperatures, RSS Version 6

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  • Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords

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  • CDR Program Contacts

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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:rss_ssmi_contacts@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description This dataset from Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) consists of satellite swath-level brightness temperatures from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS). SSMIS measures the natural microwave emission coming from the Earth’s surface in the spectral band from 19 to 85 GHz. There are roughly 15 orbits per day per satillite with a swath width of approximately 1400 km resulting in nearly global daily coverage. SSMIS onboard the DMSP F18 satellite is the first instrument that has been calibrated to the RSS Version 8 standard. The data record covers the time period from March 2010 through the present with a one month latency. Additional DMSP satellites for RSS Version 8 will follow as they are calibrated. This Version 8 is an update to Version 7 of the same product, also archived at NOAA/NCEI. Version 8 has improved calibration for land and ice scenes. The data file format is netCDF-4 with added metadata that follow the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions and Attribute Convention for Dataset Discovery (ACDD).
distribution 
[
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Dataset Landing Page",
    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.7289/V5Q23XK7",
    "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/ssmis-brightness-temperature-rss",
    "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/ssmis-brightness-temperature-rss/access/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Direct download for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI THREDDS",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/catalog/satellite/ssmis-brightness-temperature-rss/catalog.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "THREDDS Data Server (TDS) for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Archive Information Request System (AIRS)",
    "mediaType": "placeholder/value",
    "description": "Search the data archive and submit an order for the dataset via the interface.",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/has/HAS.FileAppRouter?datasetname=SSMIRSS&subqueryby=STATION&applname=&outdest=FILE",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Registry of Open Data on AWS",
    "accessURL": "https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa-cdr-fundamental/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Information on AWS data access.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "AWS S3 Explorer (Region: us-east-1)",
    "accessURL": "https://noaa-cdr-microwave-imager-brit-temp-rss-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Browse view to explore the S3 bucket.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Azure Landing Page (Region: us-east)",
    "accessURL": "https://microsoft.github.io/AIforEarthDataSets/data/noaa-cdr.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Information on Microsoft Azure data access.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SSMI(S) Brightness Temperature - RSS Version 7",
    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.7289/V5SJ1HKZ",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Related dataset landing page.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of SSM/I and SSMIS Microwave Brightness Temperatures, RSS Version 6",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00801/html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Landing page for dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords",
    "accessURL": "https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "CDR Program Contacts",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/climate-data-records",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Contact information for the CDR Program.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  }
]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C01567.xml
issued 2019-10-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
[
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Microwave > Antenna Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Microwave > Brightness Temperature",
  "Geographic Region > Global",
  "NOAA CLIMATE DATA RECORD (CDR) PROGRAM",
  "DMSP 5D-2/F18 > Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F18",
  "SSMIS > Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder",
  "SSMI(S) Brightness Temperature - RSS",
  "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 2019-10-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
[
  "https://doi.org/10.7289/V5SJ1HKZ",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00801/html"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 2010-03-08T00:00:00+00:00/2025-07-31T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of SSMIS Microwave Brightness Temperatures, RSS Version 8

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