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NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) Radiometer Data

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:13 PM | Dataset Last Updated: November 05, 1978 at 12:00 AM
The Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) series offers the advantage of daily global coverage, by making nearly polar orbits 14 times per day approximately 520 miles above the surface of the Earth. The Earth's rotation allows the satellite to see a different view with each orbit, and each satellite provides two complete views of a location around the world each day. The POES constellation of weather satellites is a joint effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is a cross-track scanning system with five spectral bands having a resolution of 1.1 km and a frequency of earth scans twice per day (usually 0230 and 1430 local solar time) on NOAA and EUMETSAT satellites. There are three data types produced from the NOAA POES AVHRR. The Global Area Coverage (GAC) data set is reduced resolution image data that is processed onboard the satellite taking only one line out of every three and averaging every four of five adjacent samples along the scan line; the Local Area Coverage (LAC) data set is recorded onboard at original resolution (1.1 km) for part of an orbit and later transmitted to earth; and the High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) is real-time downlink data. The EUMETSAT MetOp satellite series, initially launched on October 19, 2006, produces the same three data types as well as a fourth data type, Global Full Resolution Area Coverage (FRAC 1.1 km). The MetOp polar orbiting operational meteorological satellite system is the European contribution to the Initial Joint Polar-Orbiting Operational Satellite System (IJPS). AVHRR data provide opportunities for studying and monitoring vegetation conditions in ecosystems including forests, tundra and grasslands. Applications include agricultural assessment, land cover mapping, producing image maps of large areas such as countries or continents, and tracking regional and continental snow cover. AVHRR data are also used to retrieve various geophysical parameters such as sea surface temperatures and energy budget data.

Resources

9 resources available

  • NCEI Dataset Landing Page

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  • NOAA CLASS: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

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  • NOAA Polar Orbiter Data User's Guide, Section 3.0, AVHRR Level 1b Data Base

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  • NOAA KLM User's Guide, Section 8.3.1.3, LAC and HRPT Data Sets (AVHRR)

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  • NOAA KLM User's Guide, Section 8.3.1.4, GAC Data Sets (AVHRR)

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  • NOAA KLM User's Guide, Section 7.1, AVHRR

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  • Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords

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  • Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES)

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  • NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

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Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Brightness Temperatures Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Infrared Imagery Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Infrared Radiances Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Visible Wavelengths > Visible Imagery Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Reflectance Earth Science > Land Surface > Surface Radiative Properties > Reflectance NGDAID32 NGDA

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:ncei.orders@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) series offers the advantage of daily global coverage, by making nearly polar orbits 14 times per day approximately 520 miles above the surface of the Earth. The Earth's rotation allows the satellite to see a different view with each orbit, and each satellite provides two complete views of a location around the world each day. The POES constellation of weather satellites is a joint effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is a cross-track scanning system with five spectral bands having a resolution of 1.1 km and a frequency of earth scans twice per day (usually 0230 and 1430 local solar time) on NOAA and EUMETSAT satellites. There are three data types produced from the NOAA POES AVHRR. The Global Area Coverage (GAC) data set is reduced resolution image data that is processed onboard the satellite taking only one line out of every three and averaging every four of five adjacent samples along the scan line; the Local Area Coverage (LAC) data set is recorded onboard at original resolution (1.1 km) for part of an orbit and later transmitted to earth; and the High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) is real-time downlink data. The EUMETSAT MetOp satellite series, initially launched on October 19, 2006, produces the same three data types as well as a fourth data type, Global Full Resolution Area Coverage (FRAC 1.1 km). The MetOp polar orbiting operational meteorological satellite system is the European contribution to the Initial Joint Polar-Orbiting Operational Satellite System (IJPS). AVHRR data provide opportunities for studying and monitoring vegetation conditions in ecosystems including forests, tundra and grasslands. Applications include agricultural assessment, land cover mapping, producing image maps of large areas such as countries or continents, and tracking regional and continental snow cover. AVHRR data are also used to retrieve various geophysical parameters such as sea surface temperatures and energy budget data.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Dataset Landing Page",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00683/html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Landing page for the dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA CLASS: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer",
    "accessURL": "http://www.class.noaa.gov/saa/products/search?datatype_family=AVHRR",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "User interface to search and order datasets. Map Services are not available for this dataset.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA Polar Orbiter Data User's Guide, Section 3.0, AVHRR Level 1b Data Base",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/N-15%20thru%20N-19/pdf/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Describes level 1b AVHRR database.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA KLM User's Guide, Section 8.3.1.3, LAC and HRPT Data Sets (AVHRR)",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/pod-guide/ncdc/docs/klm/html/c8/sec831-3.htm",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Describes the characteristics and format of Local Area Coverage (LAC) and High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) data sets for AVHRR instrument aboard NOAA KLM and NOAA-N satellites.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA KLM User's Guide, Section 8.3.1.4, GAC Data Sets (AVHRR)",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "description": "Describes the characteristics and formats of AVHRR Global Area Coverage (GAC) data sets for NOAA KLM and NOAA-N satellites.",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/N-15%20thru%20N-19/pdf/2.5%20Section%208.0%20NOAA%20Level%201B%20Database.pdf",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA KLM User's Guide, Section 7.1, AVHRR",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "description": "Describes AVHRR/3 instrument calibration.",
    "downloadURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/N-15%20thru%20N-19/pdf/2.4%20Section%207.0%20Calibration%20of%20NOAA%20KLM%20Instruments.pdf",
    "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": "Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES)",
    "accessURL": "http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Operations/POES/index.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "This site provides information on each spacecraft and their various subsystems.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NCEI home page with information, data access and contact information.",
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C00683.xml
issued 1978-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Brightness Temperatures",
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Infrared Imagery",
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Infrared Radiances",
  "Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Visible Wavelengths > Visible Imagery",
  "Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Radiation > Reflectance",
  "Earth Science > Land Surface > Surface Radiative Properties > Reflectance",
  "NGDAID32",
  "NGDA",
  "National Geospatial Data Asset",
  "Climate And Weather Theme",
  "Geographic Region > Global",
  "AVHRR > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer",
  "AVHRR-2 > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-2",
  "AVHRR-3 > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-3",
  "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",
  "FRAC-G1B",
  "METOP_FRAC_Level_1b_NSS.FRAC (M1 and M3)",
  "gov.noaa.class:AVHRR"
]
landingPage http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Operations/POES/index.html
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 1978-11-05T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/N-15%20thru%20N-19/pdf/",
  "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/pod-guide/ncdc/docs/klm/html/c8/sec831-3.htm",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/N-15%20thru%20N-19/pdf/2.5%20Section%208.0%20NOAA%20Level%201B%20Database.pdf",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/satellite/publications/podguides/N-15%20thru%20N-19/pdf/2.4%20Section%207.0%20Calibration%20of%20NOAA%20KLM%20Instruments.pdf"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 1978-11-05T00:00:00+00:00/1978-11-05T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) Radiometer Data

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