MSULTT provides gridded lower tropospheric temperatures derived from Microwave Sounding Unit instruments. The algorithm combines MSU channels 2 and 3 with a limb correction based on latitude, longitude, month, and scan angle. The dataset is maintained by NASA's GES DISC and its last update is recorded as 1994.
Use Cases
- Analyze temperature trends using the gridded lower tropospheric temperature values.
- Validate climate models against observed temperature data from the MSU instruments.
- Study spatial temperature patterns using the 2.5-degree latitude/longitude grid.
- Apply the limb correction algorithm based on latitude, longitude, month, and scan angle for data refinement.
- Investigate temperature variations near 500 hecto Pascals using the specified averaging kernel.
Strengths
- Data derived from multiple MSU instrument platforms, providing consolidated measurements.
- Algorithm includes a specific limb correction (LIMB 93) based on four parameters: latitude, longitude, month, and scan angle.
Limitations
- The dataset's last update is from 1994, making it temporally stale for contemporary climate analysis.
- Specific row counts, file sizes, and geographic coverage details are unknown.
- The data north/south of 66.7 degrees uses a weighted assignment method, which may introduce interpolation biases.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA's GES DISC (Global Earth Science Data and Information System Center).
- Collection Method
- Derived from Microwave Sounding Unit instruments using an algorithm based on Spencer and Christy (1990) with LIMB 93 correction.
- Time Range
- null
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Global, with a gridded format at 2.5-degree latitude/longitude resolution.