SAMSN7L1RAT: Nimbus-7 Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder Radiance Data

SAMSN7L1RAT contains original radiance measurements from the Nimbus-7 satellite's SAMS instrument, designed to derive concentrations of key atmospheric gases like CO2, H2O, CO, NO, N2O, and CH4. The data provides a vertical profile of the atmosphere from about 15 km to 140 km with a 10 km resolution, stored in its recovered original binary orbit files. Its availability from October 1978 to June 1983 offers a foundational record for studying stratospheric and mesospheric composition during that period.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical trends of stratospheric CO2 and CH4 based on radiance measurements at 15 and 7.7 micron bands.
• Validating modern atmospheric models using vertical profile data from 15 km to 140 km altitude.
• Studying the spatial and temporal distribution of water vapor (H2O) in the mesosphere from the 25-100 micron band data.
• Investigating the co-evolution of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO) concentrations using the 4-5 micron band radiances.

Strengths

• Provides a specific temporal coverage from 26 October 1978 through 9 June 1983.
• Offers high vertical resolution data (10 km) for a wide altitude range (15 km to 140 km).
• Data is associated with a specific, notable research team (Principal Investigators Prof. John T. Houghton and Dr. Fredric W. Taylor from Oxford University).

Limitations

• Column names and detailed schema are unknown, limiting immediate analytical use.
• Data is stored in a proprietary binary format, requiring specialized tools for access and interpretation.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between sources (2026-04-09 and 1983-06-10), creating provenance uncertainty.

Provenance

Source

GES_DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center), NASA.

Collection Method

Data were recovered from original magnetic tapes and stored online as orbit files in their original proprietary binary format.

Time Range

1978-10-26 to 1983-06-09

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:45:54.761538

Geography

Global coverage from the Nimbus-7 satellite orbit.