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. Dr. L. L. Foshee of the US Army Electronics Command was the Principal Investigator. 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 Earthdata Forum
Last Updated May 18, 2026, 19:59 (UTC)
Created June 2, 2025, 03:26 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 4575b439-2695-4bb1-b158-5fc233532d4d
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/MJSVF1RELT6J
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-05-14T22:12:39Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash fc340eba58ee4cd2a42823a3007c9797ab2088169f2f2eab835af8348a24708f
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN",[{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":90,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-90}]]
temporal 1966-05-16/1966-11-15
theme {"Earth Science"}