TOVSAMNF: Global Atmospheric Temperature and Moisture Profiles from NOAA-9

Global fields of atmospheric temperature and moisture structure derived from NOAA-9 satellite observations using the TOVS Path A physical retrieval method. The dataset provides 3D profiles and surface parameters, including land/sea surface temperature, outgoing longwave radiation, cloud fraction, and total ozone, generated through a 6-hour forecast-retrieval-analysis cycle. It assimilates satellite soundings with in-situ measurements like radiosondes within each synoptic period.

Use Cases

• Validating and initializing general circulation models based on assimilated temperature and humidity profiles.
• Analyzing global cloud radiative effects using derived cloud fraction, top height, and outgoing longwave radiation.
• Studying surface energy budgets with land and sea surface temperature parameters.
• Monitoring atmospheric composition via total ozone overburden estimates.
• Investigating synoptic-scale moisture transport using the 3-dimensional moisture structure fields.

Strengths

• Derived from a well-documented physical retrieval method (Susskind et al., 1984) designated as the TOVS Path A scheme.
• Assimilates multiple data sources, including 20-channel HIRS2 and 4-channel MSU satellite data plus in-situ radiosonde and ship reports.
• Provides a globally comprehensive set of atmospheric parameters from temperature profiles to cloud properties.
• Produced by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GES DISC), indicating authoritative processing.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts exist: the 'last updated' date differs between sources (1986-12-31 vs. 2026-04-09).
• Column names and dataset size (rows, file size) are not provided by any source, limiting technical assessment.
• The retrieval method is described as dependent on hydrodynamic models and a priori data, which may introduce specific biases.

Provenance

Source

Satellite Data Utilization Office, Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA/GSFC

Collection Method

Physical retrieval algorithm using TOVS data from NOAA-9, assimilated with in-situ measurements via an Optimal Interpolation scheme.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:29:59.030228

Geography

Global