TOVSA5NG: Global Atmospheric Profiles from NOAA-10

Global fields of atmospheric temperature and moisture structure are derived from the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) aboard NOAA-10. The dataset likely contains Level 3 geophysical parameters, including profiles of temperature and moisture, land and sea surface temperature, outgoing longwave radiation, cloud fraction, cloudtop height, total ozone overburden, and precipitation estimates. These parameters are produced using a physical retrieval method and assimilated with in-situ measurements within a 6-hour forecast-retrieval-analysis cycle.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global 3-dimensional temperature-moisture structure based on HIRS2/MSU satellite data.
• Monitoring cloud fraction and cloudtop height for weather and climate model validation.
• Estimating land and sea surface temperature and outgoing longwave radiation for energy balance studies.
• Assessing total ozone overburden and precipitation estimates for atmospheric chemistry and hydrology research.
• Initializing and validating General Circulation Models using assimilated retrieval and in-situ measurement data.

Strengths

• Derived from a defined physical retrieval method (Susskind et al., 1984) and a 6-hour interactive forecast-retrieval-analysis cycle.
• Utilizes data from two specific instruments: the 20-channel HIRS2 and the 4-channel MSU on NOAA-10.
• Parameters are assimilated with available in-situ measurements like radiosonde and ship reports using an Optimal Interpolation scheme.

Limitations

• Column names and dataset size (rows, size) are unknown across all platforms, limiting precise structural understanding.
• The last updated date conflicts between sources (2026-04-09 and 1991-08-29), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.
• The retrieval method is described as hydrodynamic model- and a priori data-dependent, which may introduce biases.

Provenance

Source

Satellite Data Utilization Office of the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA/GSFC.

Collection Method

Physical retrieval from TOVS data on NOAA-10, processed via the Path A scheme.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:42:27.866068

Geography

Global