THIR/Nimbus-4 Level 1 Meteorological Radiation Data at 11.5 microns V001 (THIRN4L1CH115) at GES DISC

THIRN4L1CH115 is the Nimbus-4 Temperature-Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR) Level 1 Meteorological Radiation Data at 11.5 microns product and contains radiances expressed in units of equivalent brightness temperature measured in the 10.5 - 12.5 (11.5) micron channel. The data, originally written on IBM 360 machines, were recovered from magnetic tapes, also referred to as Nimbus Meteorological Radiation Tapes (NMRT-THIR). The data are archived in their original IBM 36-bit word proprietary format, also referred to as a binary TAP file. The Nimbus-4 satellite was successfully launched on December 11, 1972. The THIR experiment on Nimbus-4 replaced the measurements made by the HRIR and MRIR instruments flown on previous Nimbus satellites. The THIR instrument is a two channel high resolution scanning radiometer designed to perform two major functions: The 11.5 micron channel provides both day and night cloud top or surface temperatures. The ground resolution at the sub-point is 8 km and operates day and night. The 6.7 micron channel gives information on the moisture content of the upper troposphere and stratosphere and the location of jet streams and frontal systems. The water vapor channel has a resolution of the sub-point is 22 km and operates mostly at night. The THIR Principal Investigator was Andrew W. McCulloch from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Nimbus-4 THIR data are available from April 13, 1970 (day of year 103) through April 1, 1971 (day of year 91). The THIRN4L1CH67 product contains the 6.7 micron channel data. This product was previously available from the NSSDC with the identifier ESAD-00004 (old ID 70-025A-02D).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated March 10, 2026, 03:56 (UTC)
Created June 2, 2025, 05:11 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id e63c9fe8-b388-4075-9566-97f017f4c505
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/U9ZMB7PIEYDV
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-03-05T23:29:36Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 8251b0e78957ecd76c957b82838c86b9138f35e8b4fd8632411e23e195b616ca
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN",[{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":90,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-90}]]
temporal 1970-04-13/1971-04-01
theme {"Earth Science"}