THIRN6L1CH67: Nimbus-6 Satellite Water Vapor Channel Radiance Data

Nimbus-6 satellite data provides global coverage of atmospheric water vapor from 1975 onward. The Temperature-Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR) Level 1 product contains radiances expressed as equivalent brightness temperature measured at a 6.7-micron wavelength. This dataset continues measurements from earlier Nimbus missions and is archived in its original IBM 36-bit proprietary binary format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing upper atmospheric water vapor content based on 6.7-micron channel radiance.
• Tracking the location of jet streams and frontal systems using nighttime infrared data.
• Studying long-term changes in atmospheric composition by comparing data with predecessor missions on Nimbus-4 and Nimbus-5.
• Recovering and processing historical satellite data from legacy IBM 360 magnetic tape formats.

Strengths

• Provides specific spatial resolution details: 22 km at nadir for the 6.7-micron water vapor channel.
• Has a defined historical lineage, continuing measurements from the Nimbus-4 and Nimbus-5 satellite missions.
• Includes explicit instrument and mission metadata, such as the Principal Investigator (Andrew W. McCulloch) and satellite launch date (June 18, 1975).

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, with one platform listing 2026-04-09 and another listing 1977-05-06, creating uncertainty about maintenance.
• Data is stored in a legacy IBM 36-bit proprietary binary format (TAP file), which presents a significant technical barrier to access and use.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Data were originally written on IBM 360 machines and recovered from magnetic tapes (Nimbus Meteorological Radiation Tapes).

Time Range

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

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:45:39.732200

Geography

Global