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TROPICS05 L2A Unified Resolution Brightness Temperatures V0.2

Published by NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Catalog Last Checked: June 25, 2026 at 01:39 PM | Dataset Last Updated: June 23, 2026
The "Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats" (TROPICS) mission has a goal of providing nearly all-weather observations of three-dimensional temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high-value science investigations of tropical cyclones. The mission comprises a constellation of five identical Space Vehicles (SVs) conforming to the 3U form factor and hosting a passive microwave spectrometer payload. Each SV hosts an identical high-performance spectrometer named the TROPICS Millimeter-wave Sounder (TMS) that will provide temperature profiles using seven channels near the 118.75-GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapor profiles using three channels near the 183-GHz water vapor absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements (when combined with higher resolution water vapor channels), and a single channel near 205 GHz that is more sensitive to cloud-sized ice particles. This dataset is from the TROPICS05 satellite, as the Provisional version of the Level 2A geolocated brightness temperature with the water vapor sounding channels (Ch. 9 to 12) converted from their native G-band resolution to the temperature sounding channel (F-band) native resolution (i.e., all measurements at the same unified larger resolution). This product is used in the Atmospheric Vertical Temperature Profile (AVTP) retrievals to gain the benefit of averaging the G-band channels (i.e., noise reduction) while maintain the F-band (AVTP) spatial resolution. The conversion uses the Backus-Gilbert technique. Each TROPICS netCDF file contains a granule of data with 81 spots and approximately 2880 scans, where a granule is defined as an orbit's worth of data.

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
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]
contactPoint 
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  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
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}
description The "Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats" (TROPICS) mission has a goal of providing nearly all-weather observations of three-dimensional temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high-value science investigations of tropical cyclones. The mission comprises a constellation of five identical Space Vehicles (SVs) conforming to the 3U form factor and hosting a passive microwave spectrometer payload. Each SV hosts an identical high-performance spectrometer named the TROPICS Millimeter-wave Sounder (TMS) that will provide temperature profiles using seven channels near the 118.75-GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapor profiles using three channels near the 183-GHz water vapor absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements (when combined with higher resolution water vapor channels), and a single channel near 205 GHz that is more sensitive to cloud-sized ice particles. This dataset is from the TROPICS05 satellite, as the Provisional version of the Level 2A geolocated brightness temperature with the water vapor sounding channels (Ch. 9 to 12) converted from their native G-band resolution to the temperature sounding channel (F-band) native resolution (i.e., all measurements at the same unified larger resolution). This product is used in the Atmospheric Vertical Temperature Profile (AVTP) retrievals to gain the benefit of averaging the G-band channels (i.e., noise reduction) while maintain the F-band (AVTP) spatial resolution. The conversion uses the Backus-Gilbert technique. Each TROPICS netCDF file contains a granule of data with 81 spots and approximately 2880 scans, where a granule is defined as an orbit's worth of data.
distribution 
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identifier 10.5067/7BR8RPRDCUEI
keyword 
[
  "earth-science-microwave-spectral-engineering-brightness-temperature"
]
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-06-23
programCode 
[
  "026:000"
]
publisher 
{
  "name": "NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
spatial 
"["GEODETIC", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -180, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 90, "EastBoundingCoordinate": 180, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -90}]]"
temporal 2023-06-01/2025-11-05
theme 
[
  "Earth Science"
]
title TROPICS05 L2A Unified Resolution Brightness Temperatures V0.2

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