TIROS-4 Low-Resolution Omnidirectional Radiometer Level 1 Radiance Data V001 (TIROS4L1ORR)

The TIROS-4 Low-Resolution Omnidirectional Radiometer Level 1 Radiance Data product contains the longwave radiation values in Langleys/min derived from the black and white sensors. The experiment consisted of two sets of bolometers in the form of hollow aluminum hemispheres, mounted on opposite sides of the spacecraft, and whose optical axes were parallel to the spin axis. The bolometers were thermally isolated from but in close proximity to reflecting mirrors so that the hemispheres behaved like isolated spheres in space. The experiment was designed to measure the amount of solar energy absorbed, reflected, and emitted by the earth and its atmosphere in order to calculate the Earth's radiation budget. The data were originally written on IBM 7094 machines, and these have been recovered from magnetic tapes, referred to as the Omnidirectional Radiometer Radiance (ORR) tapes. The data are archived in their text format.

The TIROS-4 satellite was successfully launched on February 8, 1962. The Low-Resolution Omnidirectional Radiometer experiment returned data for about five months. A previous instrument flew on TIROS-3 and a follow-on instrument was flown on TIROS-7, while a similar instrument flew on Explorer-7.

The Principal Investigator for these data was Verner E. Suomi from the University of Wisconsin. This product was previously available from the NSSDC with the identifier ESAD-00152 (old id 62-002A-01B).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated September 15, 2026, 05:40 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 19:30 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 3c0e17a7-0651-4c01-af0c-5467ef834b2d
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/F63AX3GWPHIZ
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-09-07T22:16:04Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 6d7e802e303bfe4d55e6f21be77deb68c828ffad9ec2df8b017dbc9576734570
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -180, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 82, "EastBoundingCoordinate": 180, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -82}]]
temporal 1962-02-08/1962-06-10
theme {"Earth Science"}