THIRN6L1CH115: Nimbus-6 Satellite Infrared Radiance Data

Data from the Nimbus-6 satellite launched on June 18, 1975, contains Level 1 meteorological radiation measurements from the Temperature-Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR). The dataset specifically provides radiances expressed as equivalent brightness temperature in the 10.5-12.5 micron channel, used for deriving cloud top or surface temperatures with an 8 km nadir resolution. It represents a continuation of atmospheric monitoring from earlier Nimbus missions, archived in its original IBM 36-bit proprietary binary format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical cloud top temperatures based on 11.5 micron infrared radiance.
• Tracking long-term surface temperature patterns from satellite-derived brightness temperature.
• Studying the continuity of atmospheric data by comparing with earlier Nimbus-4 and Nimbus-5 THIR measurements.
• Investigating the spatial distribution of thermal radiation for climate model validation.

Strengths

• Provides specific spatial resolution details: 8 km at nadir for the 11.5 micron channel.
• Has a clear provenance, identifying the Principal Investigator (Andrew W. McCulloch) and originating institution (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center).
• Represents a continuous data record, explicitly continuing measurements from predecessor Nimbus-4 and Nimbus-5 missions.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: no column names, row counts, or dataset size are provided by any source.
• Data is archived in an obsolete IBM 36-bit proprietary binary format (TAP file), which presents a significant access and processing barrier.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (1977-08-11 on nasa_earthdata vs. 2026-04-09 on datagov), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Collection Method

Data recovered from original Nimbus Meteorological Radiation Tapes (NMRT-THIR) written on IBM 360 machines.

Time Range

1975 onward (post-launch of Nimbus-6 on June 18, 1975)

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:45:27.386618

Geography

Global, from sun-synchronous polar orbit of the Nimbus-6 satellite.