MSULTT: Daily Lower Troposphere Temperatures from MSU Satellites

Gridded daily lower tropospheric temperatures derived from Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) instruments on several satellite platforms. The data is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration using an algorithm based on Spencer and Christy (1990) with a LIMB 93 correction. The dataset was last updated on March 12, 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global temperature trends based on gridded lower tropospheric temperature data.
• Validating climate model outputs against satellite-derived temperature observations.
• Studiating atmospheric dynamics based on temperature measurements with a peak sensitivity near 500 hPa.
• Applying limb corrections for satellite data based on latitude, longitude, month, and scan angle parameters.

Strengths

• Data is derived from multiple satellite platforms, likely increasing spatial and temporal coverage.
• Algorithm includes a specific limb correction (LIMB 93) based on latitude, longitude, month, and scan angle.
• Dataset was last updated on March 12, 2026, suggesting ongoing maintenance.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and spatial resolution specifics are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic or temporal bias inherent to the satellite platforms and sampling method.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) instruments measuring thermal emission of radiation by molecular oxygen.

Time Range

Daily data; specific date range is unknown.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:31:02.796093

Geography

Global, with a gridded format and weighted assignment for polar regions north/south of 66.7 degrees.