TOVSAMNF: Atmospheric Profiles from NOAA-9 Satellite

TOVSAMNF provides global 3D atmospheric temperature and moisture fields derived from NOAA-9 satellite data using the Path A physical retrieval scheme. The dataset integrates HIRS2 and MSU sensor data with a forecast-retrieval-analysis cycle, assimilating satellite retrievals with in-situ measurements like radiosonde reports. It yields parameters such as land/sea surface temperature, outgoing longwave radiation, cloud fraction, cloud top height, total ozone, and precipitation estimates.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global 3D temperature-moisture structure based on profiles derived from HIRS2/MSU satellite data.
• Monitoring land and sea surface temperature trends from the retrieved geophysical parameters.
• Studying cloud properties and radiative balance using derived cloud fraction, cloud top height, and outgoing longwave radiation.
• Estimating total ozone overburden and precipitation from the assimilated satellite and in-situ measurement data.

Strengths

• Derived from a sophisticated physical retrieval method (Susskind et al., 1984) that integrates satellite data with a 6-hour forecast-retrieval-analysis cycle.
• Assimilates satellite retrievals with in-situ measurements like radiosonde and ship reports using an Optimal Interpolation scheme.
• Produces a wide range of geophysical parameters, including atmospheric profiles, surface temperatures, cloud properties, ozone, and precipitation.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, dataset size, and row counts are unknown across all platforms.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata: one source shows 2026-04-09, while another shows 1987-01-01, indicating potential data freshness issues.
• The retrieval method is hydrodynamic model- and a priori data-dependent, which may introduce biases or dependencies on the underlying assumptions.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Physical retrieval algorithm based on the iterative relaxation technique of Chahine (1968), using data from NOAA-9 satellite's HIRS2 and MSU instruments.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:29:58.976099 (most recent update reported, but conflicting date exists)

Geography

Global