Nimbus-4 BUV Ultraviolet Radiance and Spacecraft Telemetry from 1970-1977

April 1970 to May 1977 data from the Nimbus-4 Backscatter Ultraviolet Spectrometer, containing raw radiance counts at 12 wavelengths and spacecraft housekeeping information. The GES DISC provides this collection of original IBM binary format files, with each file covering approximately one orbit. Instrument operations were curtailed after a 1972 power array failure, leading to increasingly sparse data collection in later years.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in raw ultraviolet radiance counts at 12 specific wavelengths between 250 and 340 nm.
• Correlate instrument status information and spacecraft housekeeping data with radiance measurement quality.
• Use ephemeris and orbit data to geolocate radiance observations for regional atmospheric studies.
• Investigate data sparsity patterns, particularly in the equatorial region post-1972, for sampling bias analysis.

Strengths

• Data spans over 7 years from April 1970 to May 1977, providing a long-term record.
• Each data file contains approximately 850 2-byte word records, structured with header, data, and trailer records.

Limitations

• Data collection became increasingly sparse after a July 1972 spacecraft power failure, particularly in equatorial regions.
• Data is stored in its original IBM 360 binary format, which requires specialized tools or conversion for modern analysis.
• The exact row count and total dataset size are unknown from the provided description.

Provenance

Source

NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), originally from the Nimbus-4 BUV instrument.

Collection Method

Raw counts measured by the Backscatter Ultraviolet Spectrometer every 32 seconds during daylit orbit portions, restored from original magnetic tapes.

Time Range

1970-04-10 to 1977-05-06

Freshness

Data collection ended on May 6, 1977; this is a historical archive.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbit, with noted sparsity in equatorial regions post-1972.