NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Gridded Satellite Data from ISCCP B1 (GridSat-B1) Infrared Channel Brightness Temperature, Version 1 (Version Superseded)

Note: This dataset version has been superseded by a newer version. It is highly recommended that users access the current version. Users should only use this version for special cases, such as reproducing studies that used this version. The Intersatellite Calibrated Gridded Satellite Data from International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) B1 data (or GridSat-B1) provides a uniform set of quality controlled observations for the infrared (IR) window channel at 11 microns for a 30 year record beginning in 1980. The ISCCP B1 data are quality controlled, calibrated, remapped and merged to provide nearly Global coverage of equal-angle uniform observations of IR brightness temperatures every 3 hours. Temporal normalization is performed via inter-satellite calibration against High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) channel 12 data during the ISCCP B1 period of record. For each 3-hour time segment (from 00 to 23 UTC), the IR channel from each satellite product is mapped to an equal-angle grid using nearest-neighbor sampling. Since the ISCCP B1 spatial resolution is approximately 8km, the resolution of the equal area grid is 0.07 degrees Latitude (approximately 8km at the Equator). The data span the Globe in Longitude and range from 70 degrees South to 70 degrees North Latitude. Satellites are merged by selecting the nadir-most observations for each grid point. Areas of satellite overlap are retained by storing data in layers. Channel primary layers (nadir-most observation) are written as 2-dimensional grids in the netCDF file, which facilitates processing of multiple files (e.g., aggregation of multiple times, etc.). Subsequent layers are written as either 2D grids or staggered arrays, which are 1-dimensional arrays that only record data when present. The fundamental Climate Data Record (CDR) is stored using netCDF and CF conventions to facilitate data usage with a wide range of processing software.