TOVSADNG: Atmospheric Profiles from NOAA-10 Satellite

TOVSADNG contains TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) Level 3 geophysical parameters derived from NOAA-10 satellite data using the Path A physical retrieval method. The dataset provides global fields of atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles, alongside derived quantities like surface temperature, cloud fraction, and ozone. The data is produced through a 6-hour forecast-retrieval-analysis cycle that assimilates satellite retrievals with in-situ measurements.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global 3-dimensional temperature-moisture structure based on HIRS2/MSU satellite retrievals.
• Monitoring land and sea surface temperature trends derived from infrared and microwave sounder data.
• Estimating cloud fraction and cloud top height for atmospheric modeling.
• Calculating total ozone overburden and outgoing longwave radiation for climate studies.
• Assimilating satellite-derived precipitation estimates with in-situ measurements for weather forecasting.

Strengths

• Derived from a specific physical retrieval method (Susskind et al., 1984) and a defined processing chain (Path A).
• Assimilates satellite data with in-situ measurements like radiosonde reports within a 6-hour cycle.
• Produces multiple geophysical parameters including vertical profiles and surface properties.

Limitations

• Specific column names and dataset size (rows, size) are not provided by any source.
• Sources disagree on the last updated date (1991 vs. 2026), suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.
• The retrieval method is dependent on hydrodynamic models and a priori data, which may introduce model-specific biases.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Data from the NOAA-10 satellite's HIRS2 and MSU instruments processed via a physical retrieval and assimilation cycle.

Freshness

2026-04-10 19:46:23.030698

Geography

Global