VISSR/SMS-2 Infrared Imagery on 70mm Film V001 (VISSRSMS2IMIR) at GES DISC

VISSRSMS2IMIR is the Visible Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometer (VISSR) Infrared Imagery on 70mm Film data product from the second Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS-2). This set of IR imagery (10.5 to 12.5 micrometer) was originally produced on commercial image-generation equipment from digital tapes and was made available on 70-mm film, from which they were later scanned to digital TIFF image files. Each TIFF scan contains 2 or 3 pictures, and there are several hundred scans from an original 70 mm film roll which are combined into a ZIP file. Each picture contains a title on the top boundary and a 33-level gray scale on the right boundary that represents brightness temperatures. It may have a combination of the following options: 1) contrast enhancement, 2) image sectorization, and 3) 1/16-size imagery. The maximum effective size covers 500 sq km, represented by 4000 by 3904 pixels. Each element has a maximum resolution of 3.7 km. The title contains the satellite identification, picture number, picture type, coordinate numbers of the top left pixel relative to the visible sensor, start time of sectorized image, and pixel scaling and sector size identification.

The SMS-2 satellite was initially parked over the equator at longitude 105W on Feb 22, 1975 viewing the hemisphere below the satellite. It was moved to its final operational position at 135W on Dec 19, 1975. The VISSR experiment was operated by the NOAA National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS), as well as scientists from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

This product was previously available from the NSSDC with the identifier ESAD-00038 (old ID 75-011A-04C).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated August 25, 2026, 09:23 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 20:01 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 11dd8193-485c-4b3d-b49c-64871f075ea5
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/IVA12OZC461E
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-08-17T22:16:01Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash c80bb88f41b8fc8c91554b9265cd29879e0a53fccad75a2cfdd1f6ec4afec40c
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": 135, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 90, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -25, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -90}]]
temporal 1975-02-22/1975-09-22
theme {"Earth Science"}