This dataset contains Level 1c inter-calibrated brightness temperatures from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) sensors onboard six polar orbiting satellites (NOAA-15, -16, -17, -18, EUMETSAT MetOp-A, and NASA Aqua) spanning from 1998 to the present. The dataset was produced by the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), and is a Fundamental Climate Data Record (FCDR) of microwave brightness temperature in the NOAA CDR Program. AMSU-A is a 15-channel microwave radiometer with a ground spatial resolution of about 50 km in diameter at nadir. The native AMSU-A Level 1b data were inter-calibrated using the Integrated Microwave Inter-Calibration Approach (IMICA) method to obtain a long-term data product to be used in climate analyses. For comparison, data files also include the operational data used in NWP forecasting along with the IMICA calibrated radiances, which minimize or remove the biases found in the operational calibration. In addition, limb adjusted radiances for both the IMICA and operational calibrations are included for certain type of climate applications, such as atmospheric layer temperature development using the radiance datasets. The orbital swath data files include AMSU-A channels 4 through 14 (between 52.8 and 57.6 GHz) for both the IMICA calibration and the operational calibration. The inter-calibrated AMSU-A data may be updated as the sounding units are further calibrated over time. In early 2017, a gridded version of the dataset was made available to the public. There are three types of gridding approaches: brightness temperatures of near-nadir Field of View (FOV) only, brightness temperature of FOV with minimum viewing zenith angle, and average brightness temperatures of FOVs from multiple scan positions.The gridded data are the produced using the same methodologies as the swath data, but are calculated to a 1x1 degree grid resolution with global coverage.

The NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) for Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) brightness temperature in "window channels". The data cover a time period from 1998 to 2015 with preliminary data starting in 2016, updated monthly, at roughly a 48km resolution over the entire globe with 30 observations per scan, using channels 23, 31, 50, 89 GHz. The AMSU-A sensor is flown on NOAA-15, -16, -17, -18, -19 and MetOp-A satellites. Visual inspections and verification of the various corrections were applied to the data to improve data accuracy.

This dataset contains Level 1c inter-calibrated brightness temperatures from the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) sensors onboard nine polar orbiting satellites (TIROS-N, NOAA-6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -11, -12, and -14) spanning from 1978 to 2006. The dataset was produced by the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), and is a Fundamental Climate Data Record (FCDR) of microwave brightness temperatures in the NOAA CDR Program. MSU is a four-channel microwave radiometer measuring at 50.3, 53.74, 54.96, and 57.95 GHz, and has ground spatial resolution of about 250 km in diameter at nadir. The native MSU Level 1b data were inter-calibrated using the Integrated Microwave Inter-Calibration Approach (IMICA) method to obtain a long-term data product to be used in climate analyses. For comparison, data files also include the operational data used in NWP forecasting along with the IMICA calibrated radiances, which minimize or remove the biases found in the operational calibration. In addition, limb adjusted radiances for both the IMICA and operational calibrations are included for certain type of climate applications, such as atmospheric layer temperature development using the radiance datasets. The orbital swath data files include MSU channels 2 through 4 for the IMICA calibration, and channels 1 through 4 for the operational calibration. The inter-calibrated MSU data are not expected to change for the dataset time period.

The NOAA Hydrological Properties for Applications Thematic Climate Data Record (TCDR) consist of Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B) and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) data to help with the long term monitoring of the global water cycle. The data cover a time period from 1998 to 2010, at roughly a 48 km (AMSU-A) and a 16 km resolution (AMSU-B/MHS) resolution over the entire globe with 30 (AMSU-A) and 90 (AMSU-B/MHS) observations per scan. Visual inspections and verification of the various corrections were applied to the data to improve data accuracy. AMSU-A TCDR variables consist of Total Precipitable Water (TPW), Cloud Liquid Water (CLW), Sea-Ice concentration (SIC), Land surface temperature (LST), Land surface emissivity (23, 31, 50 GHz) (LSE). AMSU-B/MHS TCDR variables consist of Ice water path (IWP), rain rate (RR), snow cover (SC) and snow water equivalent (SWE). The data are ideal for helping with things like validating climate model simulations; identifying climate extremes; validating other observations and more.