THIRN6IM: Nimbus-6 Infrared Brightness Temperature Images on Film
Updated 2mo ago
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Available on 2 platforms
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Description
Daily montages of brightness temperatures from the Nimbus-6 Temperature-Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR) are captured on 70 mm photofacsimile film strips at 6.7 and 11.5 microns. Each gridded film strip, identified by orbit number, time, and day/night indicator, covers a pole-to-pole swath with a ground resolution of 22.6 km for the 6.7-micron channel and 8.2 km for the 11.5-micron channel at nadir. The THIR experiment collected these images from June 18, 1975, to May 6, 1976, to measure cloudtop temperatures and map upper-tropospheric water vapor.
Use Cases
Analyzing historical cloudtop temperature trends based on the 11.5-micron window channel imagery.
Mapping upper-tropospheric water vapor distribution at night using the 6.7-micron channel data.
Studying the spatial resolution degradation of satellite imagery with increasing distance from the subsatellite track.
Digitizing and archiving historical 70 mm film-based satellite observations into JPEG 2000 format.
Strengths
Provides a specific 11-month observation period from June 1975 to May 1976.
Offers dual-channel infrared data with documented ground resolutions of 22.6 km and 8.2 km at nadir.
Images are geographically gridded and tagged with orbit number, time, and day/night indicators.
Limitations
Metadata conflicts exist: the 'last updated' date is listed as both 1977-05-24 and 2026-04-09.
Column names and exact dataset size (rows, file size) are not provided in the available metadata.
Data is stored in a legacy format (JPEG 2000 files archived in weekly TAR files), which may require specific tools for extraction.
Provenance
Source
Nimbus-6 Temperature-Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR) experiment, processed by GES DISC.
Collection Method
Satellite remote sensing measurements recorded on 70 mm photofacsimile film and later digitized.
Time Range
June 18, 1975 to May 6, 1976
Freshness
2026-04-09 21:45:39.697895
Geography
Global coverage, with orbital swaths from pole to pole and horizon to horizon.
License is listed as 'other-license-specified'; users must investigate specific terms. Data is packaged as about one week of images per TAR file.