HRIR/Nimbus-2 Level 1 Meteorological Radiation Data V001 (HRIRN2L1) at GES DISC

HRIRN2L1 is the High Resolution Infrared Radiometer (HRIR) Nimbus-2 Level 1 Meteorological Radiance Data (NMRT) product and contains infrared radiances converted to equivalent black-body temperature or "brightness" temperature values. The data, originally written on IBM 360 machines, were recovered from magnetic tapes, also referred to as Nimbus Meteorological Radiation Tapes (NMRT). The data are archived in their original IBM 36-bit word proprietary format, also referred to as a binary TAP file.

The HRIR instrument was designed to perform two major functions: first to map the Earth's cloud cover at night to complement the television coverage during the daytime portion of the orbit, and second to measure the temperature of cloud tops and terrain features. The HRIR instrument was launched on the Nimbus-2 satellite and was operational from May 16, 1966 through November 15, 1966.

Measurements taken during daytime do not reveal true surface temperatures since the radiometer operates in the 3.5 to 4.1 micron region, and reflected solar radiation is added to emitted surface radiation. However, reflected sunlight in this spectral region does not saturate the radiometer output and usable pictures can be made.

This product was previously available from the NSSDC with the identifier ESAD-00108 (old ID 66-040A-03A).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer JAMES JOHNSON
Last Updated March 31, 2025, 22:28 (UTC)
Created March 31, 2025, 22:28 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
catalog_@id https://data.nasa.gov/data.json
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
citation Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). 2009-03-10. HRIRN2L1. Version 001. HRIR/Nimbus-2 Level 1 Meteorological Radiation Data V001. Greenbelt, MD, USA. Archived by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Government, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datacollection/HRIRN2L1_001.html. Digital Science Data.
creator Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
data-presentation-form Digital Science Data
graphic-preview-file https://docserver.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/public/project/Images/HRIRN2L1_001.png
harvest_object_id d356714c-e0d5-4616-847b-7c3a1417da67
harvest_source_id 61638e72-b36c-4866-9d28-551a3062f158
harvest_source_title DNG Legacy Data
identifier C1273652154-GES_DISC
issued 1966-05-16
landingPage https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov:443/search/concepts/C1273652154-GES_DISC.html
language {en-US}
metadata_type geospatial
modified 1966-11-15
programCode {026:001}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/GCDC/GESDISC
release-place Greenbelt, MD, USA
resource-type Dataset
series-name HRIRN2L1
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 3575ab84dfbd37cfcac12c0e16b8b5d64e0e1052cff47c384b6f76440e7e6fa0
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial -180.0 -90.0 180.0 90.0
temporal 1966-05-16T00:00:00Z/1966-11-15T23:59:59.999Z
theme {Nimbus,geospatial}