University of Miami Tiros N/NOAA AVHRR Telemetry Data (Level 0), 1979-1991

From 1979 to 1991, this dataset contains real-time and recorded satellite telemetry data from the Tiros N and NOAA-6 through NOAA-12 satellites. The University of Miami processed and archived the data, which was originally supplied by the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) from receiving stations in Virginia, Alaska, and Africa. It includes thousands of satellite passes, with NOAA-11 and NOAA-12 listed as active and operational at the time of the description.

Use Cases

• Analyze satellite operational patterns based on the thousands of recorded passes per satellite.
• Study environmental data collection systems based on the described Data Collection and Location System (DCS).
• Examine historical satellite data transmission and storage methods based on the described tape decoding and reformatting process.
• Conduct time-series analysis of satellite operations based on the specific date ranges provided for each satellite.

Strengths

• Provides explicit temporal coverage for multiple satellites, with start and end dates listed from 1979 to 1991.
• Includes a substantial number of data passes, such as 19,723 for NOAA 11 and 7,130 for NOAA 9.
• Describes a clear data provenance chain from government receiving stations to the University of Miami archive.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified as the description lists some satellites as 'present'.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific receiving stations mentioned (Virginia, Alaska, Africa).

Provenance

Source

University of Miami, from data supplied by the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS).

Collection Method

Telemetry data copied from supplied tapes, decoded, redundant data removed, and reformatted to computer-compatible tape.

Time Range

1979-1991, with specific ranges for each Tiros N/NOAA satellite.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; some satellites were listed as 'present' at the time of the description.

Geography

Global coverage from NOAA series satellites, received at stations in Wallops Island (Virginia), Gilmore Creek (Alaska), and Mombasa (Africa).