MRIR/Nimbus-3: Infrared Radiance Data for Atmospheric Temperature and Water Vapor

Nimbus-3 satellite data containing infrared radiances expressed as brightness temperatures across five specific wavelength channels. The data was recovered from original magnetic tapes and is archived in a proprietary 36-bit binary format. It was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling stratospheric temperature changes based on the 14.5-15.5 micron CO2 absorption band data.
• Estimating surface or near-surface temperatures over clear skies using the 10-11 micron atmospheric window channel.
• Analyzing water vapor distribution in the upper and lower troposphere based on the 6.5-7.0 micron and 20-23 micron channels.
• Studying cloud cover and cloud height information from the 10-11 micron channel data.
• Measuring reflected solar energy intensity using the 0.2-4.0 micron channel covering the solar spectrum.

Strengths

• Contains measurements across five distinct infrared wavelength channels, each designed for a specific atmospheric property.
• Data is sourced from the original Nimbus-3 satellite mission and recovered from magnetic tapes, providing a historical record.
• Includes geolocation and time information alongside the radiance measurements.

Limitations

• Data is archived in a proprietary IBM 36-bit binary format, which may require specialized tools for access and conversion.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by the Nimbus-3 Medium-Resolution Infrared Radiometer (MRIR) instrument, recovered from magnetic tapes.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:30:11.616445; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from the Nimbus-3 satellite orbit.