Monthly Atmospheric Layer Temperature Record from Satellite Microwave Sounders

31 years of monthly global temperature analyses for the troposphere and stratosphere are derived from microwave radiometers on polar-orbiting satellites. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information produced this Climate Data Record by merging data from the Microwave Sounding Unit and Advanced Microwave Sounding Units from 1978 to 2011.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term trends in Temperature Lower Troposphere (TLT) and Temperature Lower Stratosphere (TLS) channels for climate change detection.
• Validate climate model outputs against the Temperature Middle Troposphere (TMT) and Temperature Troposphere/Stratosphere (TTS) global anomaly maps.
• Study spatial patterns of atmospheric warming/cooling using the 2.5 x 2.5 degree resolution global average maps for each channel.
• Assess data continuity and instrument bias by comparing the merged MSU and AMSU brightness temperature (Tb) records.

Strengths

• 31-year continuous record from 1978 to 2011 provides a long-term baseline for climate studies.
• Data merges two satellite instrument generations (MSU and AMSU) for consistency.
• Includes quality flags and standard deviation variables for uncertainty assessment.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage ends in 2011, lacking recent years for contemporary climate analysis.
• Spatial resolution of 2.5 x 2.5 degrees may be coarse for regional-scale studies.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Collection Method

Analysis of brightness temperature data from microwave sounding radiometers on polar-orbiting weather satellites.

Time Range

1978-2011

Freshness

Monthly updates planned, but base record ends in 2011.

Geography

Global