ITPR/Nimbus-5: Infrared Radiances from 1975-1976 Satellite Missions

Nimbus-5 satellite data contains calibrated radiances at seven infrared spectral regions, including four near the 15 micron CO2 band. Data collection was limited to three specific periods in 1975 and 1976 covering East Asia, the United States, and southern Australia. The principal investigator for the experiment was William L. Smith from NOAA.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical atmospheric CO2 concentrations based on radiances near the 15 micron band
• Studying water vapor distribution based on data from the rotational band near 20 microns
• Examining cloud and surface properties using radiances from atmospheric window regions near 3.7 and 11 microns
• Calibrating or validating climate models with historical satellite radiance data from specific geographic regions

Strengths

• Data covers seven specific infrared spectral regions, including 2683.0, 899.0, 747.0, 713.8, 689.5, 668.3, and 507.4 cm-1
• Instrument scan sequence provides three separate grid matrices (right, center, left of nadir) with 10 scan lines and 14 scenes per scan
• Each scan footprint is 32 km wide, providing a defined spatial resolution

Limitations

• Data is limited to three short time periods from 1975 and 1976 due to instrument problems
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data gathered by the Nimbus-5 Infrared Temperature Profile Radiometer (ITPR) instrument.

Time Range

14 February 1975 to 1 March 1975, 10 May 1976 to 4 June 1976, 1 September 1976 to 30 September 1976

Geography

East Asia, United States and the Gulf, southern Australia and New Zealand