TIROS-2 Medium-Resolution Scanning Radiometer Level 1 Final Meteorological Radiation Data V001 (TIROS2L1FMRT) at GES DISC

TIROS-2 Medium-Resolution Scanning Radiometer Level 1 Final Meteorological Radiation Data (FMRT) product contains radiances expressed in five infrared/visible wavelength regions, expressed in either equivalent blackbody temperature (IR channels 1 and 2) or effective radiant emmitance (visible channels 3 and 5). The data will trace an elliptical, parabolic, or hyperbolic pattern on the ground due to the rotating of the instrument about the satellite spin axis. There is one orbit per file. The data were originally written on IBM 7094 machines, and these have been recovered from magnetic tapes, referred to as the Final Meteorological Radiation Tapes (FMRT). The data are archived in their original IBM 36-bit word proprietary format, also referred to as a binary TAP file.The TIROS-2 satellite was successfully launched on November 23, 1960. The Medium-Resolution Scanning Radiometer experiment successfully returned data for about five months, becoming the first radiometer to make meteorlogical measurements from space. Three follow-on instruments were flown on TIROS-3, -4 and -7. Initially, all channels performed normally. However, channels 1 and 4 gradually deteriorated and by January 1961 were useless. The signal to noise ratio of channels 3 and 5 was extremely low, and the output was highly questionable. The instrument is a five channel radiometer with a 55 km footprint at nadir with the following characteristics:Channel 1: 6.0 to 6.5 microns - water vapor absorptionChannel 2: 8.0 to 12.0 microns - atmospheric windowChannel 3: 0.2 to 6.0 microns - reflected solar radiationChannel 4: 8.0 to 30 microns - terrestial radiationChannel 5: 0.55 to 0.75 microns - response to the TV systemThe Principal Investigator for these data was Joseph D. Barksdale from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This product was previously available from the NSSDC with the identifier ESAD-00113 (old ID 60-016A-02A).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated February 10, 2026, 03:22 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 19:30 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
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harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/DMDMOR7JSIEG
landingPage https://docserver.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/public/project/Images/TIROS2L1FMRT_Sample.png
modified 2026-02-09
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash c0501634c73f55c27b91e55f5de64370918d7387805d917722d73e7c955e3295
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN",[{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":66,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-66}]]
temporal 1960-11-23/1960-11-23
theme {"Earth Science"}