Digital Object Identifier
Entry information for FCDR_MWI_V004

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Title

Fundamental Climate Data Record of Microwave Imager Radiances, Edition 4

Citation

Fennig, Karsten; Schröder, Marc; Konrad, Hannes; Hollmann, Rainer (2022): Fundamental Climate Data Record of Microwave Imager Radiances, Edition 4, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring, DOI:10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/FCDR_MWI/V004, https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/FCDR_MWI/V004. [BibTeX entry]

Publisher

Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF)

Publication year

2022

Author(s)

Fennig, Karsten; Schröder, Marc; Konrad, Hannes; Hollmann, Rainer

Description

The CM SAF FCDR of Microwave Imager Radiances comprises inter-calibrated brightness temperatures (BTRs) from the SMMR, SSM/I and SSMIS radiometers. This 4th edition covers the time period from October 1978 to December 2020 including all available data from the SMMR radiometer aboard Nimbus–7, the SSM/I radiometers aboard F08, F10, F11, F13, F14, and F15 and the SSMIS radiometers aboard F16, F17, and F18. This data record has been extended by two more years of SSMIS data in December 2023. This prolongs the end of the covered time period to December 2022. The FCDR provides homogenised and inter-calibrated BTRs in a user-friendly data format. SMMR, SSM/I and SSMIS data are used for a variety of applications, such as analyses of the hydrological cycle and remote sensing of sea ice. The improved homogenization and inter-calibration procedure ensure the long term stability of the FCDR for climate related applications. All available raw data records have been reprocessed to a common standard, starting with the calibration of the raw Earth counts, to ensure a completely homogenized data record. The data processing accounts for several known issues with the instruments and corrects calibration anomalies due to along-scan inhomogeneity, moonlight intrusions, sunlight intrusions, and emissive reflector. Also, an adjustment to the SSMIS geolocation has been implemented in order to improve the consistency. Corrections for SMMR are limited because the SMMR raw data records were not available. Furthermore, the inter-calibration model incorporates a scene dependent inter-satellite bias correction and a non-linearity correction to the instrument calibration. The data files contain all available original sensor data (SMMR: Pathfinder Level 1b) and metadata to provide a completely traceable climate data record. Inter-calibration and Earth incidence angle normalization offsets are available as additional layers within the data files in order to keep this information transparent to the users. The data record is complemented with radiometer sensitivities, quality flags, surface types, and Earth incidence angles.

Format

NetCDF v4

Version

4.1

Temporal coverage

1978-10-25 - 2022-12-31

Geographic coverage

Latitude: -90.00° S to 90.00° N
Longitude: -180.00° W to 180.00° E

Size

11.7 TiB

Documentation

Related publications

Related Data Records

Data record details and ordering

Products from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)

Products from Nimbus Program (NIMBUS)