NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Mean Layer Temperature-NOAA, Version 5

The Mean Layer Temperature - NOAA CDR V5.0 is a monthly global dataset with 2.5°×2.5° grid resolution covering
the period from November 1978 to present. The dataset measures mean layer atmospheric temperatures from the lower-troposphere to the lower-stratosphere. The dataset was inter-calibrated and merged from three generations of microwave sounders, MSU, AMSU-A, and ATMS, with 16 polar-orbiting satellites including TIROS-N, NOAA-6, NOAA-7, NOAA-8, NOAA-9, NOAA-10, NOAA-11, NOAA-12, NOAA-14, NOAA-15, NOAA-18, NOAA-19, MetOp-A, Aqua, SNPP, and NOAA-20. The dataset includes temperature mid-troposphere (TMT, MSU channel 2 merged with AMSU-A channel 5 and ATMS channel 6), temperature upper-troposphere (TUT, MSU channel 3 merged with AMSU-A channel 7 and ATMS channel 8), temperature lower-stratosphere (TLS, MSU channel 4 merged with AMSU-A channel 9 and ATMS channel 10), and temperature lower-troposphere (TLT, derived from combinations of TMT, TUT, and TLS). TLT, TMT, TUT, and TLS measure layer temperatures peaking roughly at 3km, 5km, 10km, and 17km, respectively,
above the Earth's surface. Features in the dataset development include a use of backward merging approach, development of an observation- and semi-physically-based algorithm for diurnal drift adjustment, and removal of spurious calibration drifting errors in NOAA-15, NOAA-14, NOAA-12, and NOAA-11 through recalibration. Satellite microwave sounding observations in stable sun-synchronous orbits (Aqua, MetOp-A, SNPP, NOAA-20) were used as a reference in the backward merging process. Bias corrections and satellite recalibration have resulted in inter-consistent CDR records for reliable climate change investigation.