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NOAA Climate Data Records (CDR) of AMSU-A/B and MHS Hydrological Properties, Version 1

Published by National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:20 PM | Dataset Last Updated: November 01, 2016 at 12:00 AM
The NOAA Hydrological Properties for Applications Thematic Climate Data Record (TCDR) consist of Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B) and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) data to help with the long term monitoring of the global water cycle. The data cover a time period from 1998 to 2010, at roughly a 48 km (AMSU-A) and a 16 km resolution (AMSU-B/MHS) resolution over the entire globe with 30 (AMSU-A) and 90 (AMSU-B/MHS) observations per scan. Visual inspections and verification of the various corrections were applied to the data to improve data accuracy. AMSU-A TCDR variables consist of Total Precipitable Water (TPW), Cloud Liquid Water (CLW), Sea-Ice concentration (SIC), Land surface temperature (LST), Land surface emissivity (23, 31, 50 GHz) (LSE). AMSU-B/MHS TCDR variables consist of Ice water path (IWP), rain rate (RR), snow cover (SC) and snow water equivalent (SWE). The data are ideal for helping with things like validating climate model simulations; identifying climate extremes; validating other observations and more.

Resources

12 resources available

  • NCEI Dataset Landing Page

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  • NOAA CDR page

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  • AMSU FCDR and Hydrological TCDR

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  • NCEI Direct Download

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  • NCEI Archive Information Request System (AIRS) Data Search and Order

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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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  • DSMR Publication at the NOAA Institutional Repository

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  • NOAA operational hydrological products derived from the advanced microwave sounding unit

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  • Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords

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  • GCOS Essential Climate Variables

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Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Liquid Precipitation > Rain Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Solid Precipitation > Snow Earth Science > Atmosphere > Clouds Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor Earth Science > Cryosphere > Sea Ice Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Brightness Temperature Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Water Vapour

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:hydro_bundle_contacts@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The NOAA Hydrological Properties for Applications Thematic Climate Data Record (TCDR) consist of Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B) and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) data to help with the long term monitoring of the global water cycle. The data cover a time period from 1998 to 2010, at roughly a 48 km (AMSU-A) and a 16 km resolution (AMSU-B/MHS) resolution over the entire globe with 30 (AMSU-A) and 90 (AMSU-B/MHS) observations per scan. Visual inspections and verification of the various corrections were applied to the data to improve data accuracy. AMSU-A TCDR variables consist of Total Precipitable Water (TPW), Cloud Liquid Water (CLW), Sea-Ice concentration (SIC), Land surface temperature (LST), Land surface emissivity (23, 31, 50 GHz) (LSE). AMSU-B/MHS TCDR variables consist of Ice water path (IWP), rain rate (RR), snow cover (SC) and snow water equivalent (SWE). The data are ideal for helping with things like validating climate model simulations; identifying climate extremes; validating other observations and more.
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    "title": "Registry of Open Data on AWS",
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    "description": "Information on AWS data access.",
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    "description": "Report documenting the Scientific Data Stewardship Maturity for this dataset.",
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    "accessURL": "https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords",
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    "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.",
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    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Overview of the GCOS Essential Climate Variables.",
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]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C00982.xml
issued 2016-10-10T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Liquid Precipitation > Rain",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Precipitation > Solid Precipitation > Snow",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Clouds",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Water Vapor",
  "Earth Science > Cryosphere > Sea Ice",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature",
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Brightness Temperature",
  "Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Water Vapour",
  "Geographic Region > Global",
  "Vertical Location > Land Surface",
  "NOAA CLIMATE DATA RECORD (CDR) PROGRAM",
  "NOAA OneStop Project",
  "Satellite",
  "AMSU-A > Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A",
  "AMSU-B > Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B",
  "MHS > Microwave Humidity Sounder",
  "NOAA POES > NOAA Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites",
  "METOP",
  "10 km - < 50 km or approximately .09 degree - < .5 degree",
  "1 minute - < 1 hour",
  "10 km - < 50 km or approximately .09 degree - < .5 degree",
  "1 minute - < 1 hour",
  "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",
  "UMD/ESSIC > Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland"
]
landingPage http://cics.umd.edu/AMSU-CDR/home.html
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2016-11-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://doi.org/10.25923/fw6p-jw64",
  "https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2004.843249"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1998-08-01T00:00:00+00:00/2010-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Climate Data Records (CDR) of AMSU-A/B and MHS Hydrological Properties, Version 1

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