Monthly Global Brightness Temperature Grids From AMSR2 Satellite

GCOM-W/AMSR2 L3 Brightness Temperature data provides monthly averaged microwave brightness temperature at 6GHz on a 0.25-degree global grid. The dataset is produced by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) from observations by the AMSR2 sensor launched in May 2012. It contains statistical mean values for ascending and descending satellite tracks, along with standard deviation and data count fields.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term trends in Brightness_Temperature_(H) and Brightness_Temperature_(V) to study surface properties like soil moisture or sea surface temperature.
• Use the Standard_Deviation field to assess spatial or temporal variability of microwave emissions within each monthly grid cell.
• Leverage the Average_Number and Total_Number columns to evaluate data quality and coverage for specific regions or time periods.
• Correlate 6GHz brightness temperature with other geophysical parameters to develop retrieval algorithms for climate variables.
• Map global brightness temperature patterns by projecting the EQR or PS gridded data onto geographic coordinates.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage with a consistent 0.25-degree sampling resolution.
• Includes separate statistical means for satellite ascending and descending tracks.
• Provides data quality indicators like Standard_Deviation, Average_Number, and Total_Number per grid cell.
• Long-term data record enabled by the satellite launched in 2012.

Limitations

• Missing values and error values (65531 to 65535) require specific handling during analysis.
• The dataset represents monthly averages, losing higher-frequency temporal information.
• Limited to the 6GHz frequency band, among the several bands available from the AMSR2 sensor.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Collection Method

Level 3 processing of AMSR2 sensor Level 1B and Level 2 data, calculating monthly statistical means via simple arithmetic averaging at each grid point.

Time Range

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Freshness

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Geography

Global coverage.