Global Daily Brightness Temperature at 6GHz from AMSR2 Satellite

Brightness temperature measurements at 6GHz from the AMSR2 sensor onboard the JAXA GCOM-W satellite. Data is provided as daily statistical means on a global 0.1-degree grid, with separate values for horizontal and vertical polarizations. The satellite was launched in May 2012, and the dataset is produced by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Use Cases

• Analyzing daily variations in Brightness_Temperature_(H) and Brightness_Temperature_(V) to study surface emissivity over oceans and land.
• Correlating 6GHz brightness temperature time-series with sea surface temperature or soil moisture from other datasets.
• Detecting data gaps and errors by filtering pixels with the documented missing value (65535) or error values (65531-65534).
• Comparing ascending versus descending track observations to study diurnal cycles in geophysical parameters.
• Aggregating daily 0.1-degree grid data to produce monthly averages for long-term climate trend analysis.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage with a 0.1-degree sampling resolution.
• Separate data for satellite ascending and descending tracks enables diurnal analysis.
• Long-term record available since the satellite's launch in 2012.
• Explicit documentation for missing (65535) and error (65531-65534) values.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and temporal range for the dataset are not provided.
• Data is provided as daily averages, losing higher temporal resolution within the day.
• The 1450 km sensor swath leads to gaps between orbits, represented by missing values.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Collection Method

Calculated from Level 1B and Level 2 sensor data by taking a simple arithmetic mean of daily observations for each 0.1-degree grid point.

Time Range

Time series begins after the satellite launch in May 2012; exact end date is unknown.

Freshness

Update frequency is daily, but the specific last update date is unknown.

Geography

Global coverage.