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TROPICS06 L2A Unified Resolution Brightness Temperatures V1.0

Published by NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/GCDC/GESDISC | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Catalog Last Checked: August 04, 2025 at 11:29 AM | Dataset Last Updated: March 31, 2025
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 TROPICS06 satellite, as the Validated Stage-1 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
bureauCode 
[
  "026:00"
]
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "Kristan Morgan",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:kristan.l.morgan@nasa.gov"
}
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 TROPICS06 satellite, as the Validated Stage-1 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 
[
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Download this dataset through a directory map",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Access the data via HTTPS",
    "downloadURL": "https://disc2.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/data/TROPICS_L2A/TROPICS06URADL2A.1.0/"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Use OPeNDAP to access the dataset's data",
    "format": "HTML",
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  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "This dataset's landing page",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Access the dataset landing page from the GES DISC website.",
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  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Google Scholar search results",
    "format": "HTML",
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  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's read me document",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "description": "TROPICS L2A README",
    "downloadURL": "https://docserver.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/public/project/TROPICS/TROPICS-03_-06_-05_-07_L2a_Release_README_Aug2024.pdf"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "View this dataset's algorithm theoretical basis document",
    "format": "PDF",
    "mediaType": "application/pdf",
    "description": "TROPICS L2A Radiance ATBD",
    "downloadURL": "https://docserver.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/public/project/TROPICS/TRPCS-ATBD-035_L2a_URRP_V2.1.pdf"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "The dataset's project home page",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "TROPICS Mission Page",
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    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
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  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Download this dataset through Earthdata Search",
    "format": "HTML",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
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    "downloadURL": "https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search?q=TROPICS06URADL2A_1.0"
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  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
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    "downloadURL": "https://docserver.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/public/project/Images/TROPICS06URADL2A_0.2.png"
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identifier C3179860505-GES_DISC
issued 2021-07-19
keyword 
[
  "earth-science",
  "microwave",
  "spectral-engineering"
]
landingPage https://doi.org/10.5067/WEEZ4YK0IGJT
language 
[
  "en-US"
]
modified 2025-03-31
programCode 
[
  "026:001"
]
publisher 
{
  "name": "NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/GCDC/GESDISC",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
[
  "https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3290"
]
spatial -180.0 -90.0 180.0 90.0
temporal 2021-07-19T00:00:00Z/2024-08-26T00:00:00Z
theme 
[
  "TROPICS (EVI-3)",
  "geospatial"
]
title TROPICS06 L2A Unified Resolution Brightness Temperatures V1.0

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