SAMSN7L3GRIDT: Nimbus-7 Stratospheric and Mesospheric Temperature Grids

Nimbus-7 SAMS data provides temperature profiles across 62 pressure levels from 246 to 0.0012 mbar, offering a detailed vertical view of the upper atmosphere. The dataset covers a 4.5-year period from December 1978 to June 1983, with daily files gridded at 2.5° latitude by 10° longitude resolution from 50°S to 67.5°N. Its two record types include full-resolution retrievals and a subset of temperature and error values at 10 standard pressure levels.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term temperature trends in the middle atmosphere based on daily gridded data from 1978-1983.
• Validating climate model simulations of the stratosphere using temperature profiles across 62 pressure levels.
• Studying atmospheric wave propagation and dynamics using the high vertical resolution from 0.0012 to 246 mbar.
• Assimilating historical upper-air observations into reanalysis products using the provided temperature and error estimates.

Strengths

• Provides high vertical resolution with temperature data at 62 distinct pressure levels.
• Covers a consistent 4.5-year time series from December 1978 to June 1983.
• Data is gridded for spatial analysis with a defined 2.5°x10° resolution.

Limitations

• Data is stored in a proprietary binary format, which likely requires specialized tools for access and analysis.
• Spatial coverage is limited from 50° South to 67.5° North, excluding polar regions and the southern high latitudes.
• Metadata completeness is low, with column names and exact row counts unspecified across all sources.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Principal Investigators Prof. John T. Houghton and Dr. Fredric W. Taylor from Oxford University.

Collection Method

Recovered from original magnetic tapes from the Nimbus-7 Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (SAMS) instrument.

Time Range

1978-12-24 to 1983-06-09

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:45:56.246381

Geography

Global grid from 50° South to 67.5° North latitude.