The data presented in this level 2 orbital product are rain rate estimates expressed as mm/hour determined from brightness temperatures (Tbs) obtained from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) flown on the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F08 mission. Most of the products generated in this data set are based upon the algorithms developed for the 3rd Algorithm Intercomparison Project (AIP-3) of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP). Details of these 15 algorithms and development of a quality score which is a measure of confidence in the estimate, along with processing and algorithmic flags, can be found in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD). The data in this product cover the period from 1987 to 1991 with one file per orbit.