Nimbus-1 Nighttime Infrared Brightness Temperature Images

August 28 to September 22, 1964, this collection contains scanned negatives of 70mm film strips from the Nimbus-1 High-Resolution Infrared Radiometer (HRIR). The images show orbital nighttime brightness temperature values for mapping cloud cover and surface temperature. The data was produced by Dr. L. L. Foshee of the US Army Electronics Command and is archived by the GES DISC.

Use Cases

• Analyze historical cloud cover patterns from nighttime infrared brightness temperature images.
• Study early satellite-derived Earth surface temperature measurements from the 3.5 to 4.1 micron spectral band.
• Geolocate features using the geographic coordinate grid overlaid on each orbital swath image.
• Process and digitize historical JPEG 2000 files from scanned 70mm film for modern analysis.

Strengths

• Covers a specific 26-day operational period from August 28 to September 22, 1964.
• Images are georeferenced with a geographic coordinate grid for spatial analysis.
• Data includes a full description in the Nimbus I Users' Guide section 3.4.1.

Limitations

• Very limited temporal coverage of less than one month.
• Data originates from scanned film negatives, which may introduce artifacts or lower fidelity compared to direct digital capture.
• Sample size and specific row/column counts are unknown.

Provenance

Source

Nimbus-1 High-Resolution Infrared Radiometer (HRIR) instrument, Principal Investigator Dr. L. L. Foshee (US Army Electronics Command).

Collection Method

Scanned negatives of photofacsimile 70mm film strips containing orbital data, saved as JPEG 2000 files.

Time Range

1964-08-28 to 1964-09-22

Freshness

Data collection ended on 1964-09-22; it is a historical archive.

Geography

Global coverage, with each orbital swath approximately from the north pole to the south pole.