TCSP ER-2 MICROWAVE TEMPERATURE PROFILER (MTP) V1

The TCSP ER-2 Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP) dataset was collected by the ER-2 Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP), which is a passive microwave radiometer which measures the thermal emission from oxygen molecules in the atmosphere for a selection of elevation angles (normally 10 between +60 and -58 degrees). The current observing frequencies are 55.5, 56.6 and 58.8 GHz. Measured 'brightness temperature' versus elevation angle is converted to air temperature versus altitude using a modified statistical retrieval procedure with a Bayesian component. An altitude temperature profile (ATP) is produced in this manner every 13 seconds or approximately 3 km along the flight path. The ATP can be used to produce a color-coded temperature curtain (CTC) of the temperature field which the ER2 has flown through, and to identify the tropopause location. ATPs can also be used to locate altitudes where the air is cold enough to condense nitric acid or water vapor to form polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). The TCSP mission collected data for research and documentation of cyclogenesis, the interaction of temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind and air pressure that creates ideal birthing conditions for tropical storms, hurricanes and related phenomena. The goal of this mission was to help us better understand how hurricanes and other tropical storms are formed and intensify.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated May 18, 2026, 21:17 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 19:21 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id fd6daa8e-0f26-40c6-9c9d-4113689c8b47
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/TCSP/MTP/DATA201
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-05-14T22:12:41Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/MSFC/GHRC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 6390d9f68651e06ac27d224cce1f7aa4be43dfd8866898916e27acf23c7215e9
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN",[{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-99.737,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":24.784,"EastBoundingCoordinate":-65.918,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":4.684}]]
temporal 2005-07-02/2005-07-27
theme {"Earth Science"}