MRIRN2IM: Nimbus-2 Satellite Infrared Brightness Temperature Images

May 15 to July 29, 1966 of daytime infrared brightness temperature images from the Nimbus-2 satellite's Medium Resolution Infrared Radiometer (MRIR). The dataset consists of photographic film sheets digitized as JPEG 2000 files, each covering an entire daylight orbit across five spectral bands from 0.2 to 30 micrometers. It was produced by NASA to study Earth's heat balance, water vapor distribution, and surface temperatures.

Use Cases

• Analyze historical Earth heat balance based on five selected wavelength intervals from 0.2 to 30 micrometers.
• Study seasonal changes in stratospheric temperature distribution based on the brightness temperature measurements.
• Map historical water vapor distribution based on the 6.4-6.9 and 14-16 micrometer band data.
• Investigate surface or near-surface temperatures from the 10-11 micrometer band imagery.

Strengths

• Data covers five specific wavelength bands (6.4-6.9, 10-11, 14-16, 5-30, and 0.2-4.0 micrometers).
• Includes associated geospatial metadata such as latitude grids and time stamps.
• Full description and processing techniques are documented in the 'Nimbus II Users' Guide' section 4.3.4.

Limitations

• Data collection period is limited to approximately 2.5 months from May 15 to July 29, 1966.
• Row count and individual image count are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Measured by the Nimbus-2 Medium Resolution Infrared Radiometer (MRIR) experiment.

Time Range

May 15, 1966 to July 29, 1966

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:30:27.440114; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits.