TEMPEST: Microwave Brightness Temperatures from the ISS

Version 10.0 is the first public release of Level 1c temperature sensor data from the TEMPEST microwave radiometer aboard the International Space Station. The dataset contains calibrated, geo-located antenna and brightness temperatures derived from five microwave frequencies (87, 164, 174, 178, 181 GHz), with a swath width of 1400 km and resolutions of 25 km (87 GHz) and 13 km (180 GHz channels). Data collection began in January 2022 and is planned to continue through December 2024, with files in HDF5 format available at roughly hourly intervals.

Use Cases

• Calibrating and validating other satellite microwave sensors based on the provided antenna temperature and sensor telemetry.
• Tracking tropical cyclone intensity and structure using the high-frequency (180 GHz) brightness temperature channels.
• Demonstrating and evaluating a lower-cost, lighter-weight microwave sensor architecture for future missions.
• Analyzing non-sun-synchronous Earth observations from the International Space Station orbit.
• Studying atmospheric and surface phenomena using multi-frequency brightness temperatures from 87 to 181 GHz.

Strengths

• Provides data from five specific microwave frequencies (87, 164, 174, 178, 181 GHz) with defined spatial resolutions (25 km and 13 km at nadir).
• Offers a planned multi-year temporal coverage from January 2022 to December 2024, with data available at roughly hourly frequency.
• Includes both the final calibrated brightness temperatures and the raw sensor telemetry used to derive them, supporting in-depth analysis.
• Represents a cross-platform dataset hosted by NASA and data.gov, indicating a level of curation and importance.

Limitations

• Column names and a precise row or file count are not provided in the available metadata, limiting understanding of the data structure.
• The license is specified only as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms, which may restrict certain uses.
• The dataset is explicitly noted as best suited for cal/val users or sensor experts, indicating it may require specialized knowledge to use effectively.

Provenance

Source

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States Space Force (Space Systems Command, Development Corps for Innovation and Prototyping)

Collection Method

Satellite-based observations from the TEMPEST microwave radiometer aboard the International Space Station, part of the Space Test Program - Houston 8 (STP-H8) mission.

Time Range

January 2022 to December 2024 (planned)

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:43:22.890323

Geography

Global coverage with a 1400 km swath width from the ISS orbit.