MSULST: Daily Lower Stratosphere Temperatures on a 2.5-Degree Grid

Gridded daily lower stratospheric temperatures derived from Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) channel 4 instruments on several satellite platforms. The data is processed using the Spencer and Christy (1990) method with a LIMB 93 limb correction based on latitude, longitude, month, and scan angle. The dataset is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term temperature trends in the lower stratosphere based on daily gridded data.
• Validating climate model outputs for the stratosphere based on satellite-derived temperature measurements.
• Studying spatial patterns of atmospheric temperature based on the 2.5-degree by 2.5-degree global grid.
• Investigating the impact of limb correction algorithms on temperature retrievals based on the applied LIMB 93 method.

Strengths

• Data is derived from multiple satellite platforms, likely providing broad temporal coverage.
• Temperatures are processed with a specific limb correction method (LIMB 93) based on latitude, longitude, month, and scan angle.
• Data is provided on a consistent 2.5-degree by 2.5-degree global grid.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) channel 4 instruments using the Spencer and Christy (1990) method with LIMB 93 correction.

Time Range

Daily coverage; specific date range is not provided in the input.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:20:04.041016; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage on a 2.5-degree latitude by 2.5-degree longitude grid.