The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites collect visible and infrared cloud imagery as well as monitoring the atmospheric, oceanographic, hydrologic, cryospheric and near-Earth space environments. The DMSP program maintains a constellation of sun-synchronous, near-polar orbiting satellites. The orbital period is 101 minutes and inclination is 99 degrees. The atmospheric and oceanographic sensors record radiances at visible, infrared and microwave wavelengths. The solar geophysical sensors measure ionospheric plasma fluxes, densities, temperatures and velocities. DMSP visible and infrared imagery of clouds covers a 3,000 km swath, thus each satellite provides global coverage of both day night time conditions each day. The field view of the microwave imagers and sounders is only 1,500 km thus approximately 3 days data are required for one instrument to provide global coverage at equatorial latitudes. The solar geophysical instruments make in-situ measurements of ionospheric parameters, some of which vary very rapidly. The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Geophysical Data Center) receive the complete DMSP data stream from the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), Offutt Air Force Base, Omaha, Nebraska. Data are currently transmitted in near real time from AFWA directly to the archive via a designated T1 line. Archive processing prepares orbital data sets of calibrated, quality assessed data organized as a time-series, restores data lost during transmission, and accurately computes satellite positions. NCEI maintains an archive of all data recorded on DMSP satellites as relayed to The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly National Geophysical Data Center) by the Air Force Weather Agency. Data from March 1992 to March 1994, are considered to be experimental. After March 1994, the system was fully operational. NCEI archives contain data that are post process reconstructed, positioned and geolocated using the same software.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) is a series of passive microwave conically scanning imagers and sounders onboard the DMSP satellites beginning with F-16. SSMIS improves upon the surface and atmospheric retrievals of the previous Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), and upon the atmospheric temperature and water vapor sounding capabilities of both the Special Sensor Microwave Temperature Sounder (SSM/T-1) and the Special Sensor Microwave Humidity Sounder (SSM/T-2). The SSMIS imaging and sounding sensors are able to estimate atmospheric temperature, moisture, and surface parameters. This sensor data record (SDR) contains SSMIS brightness temperatures since November 2005 that have been surface tagged, calibrated, Doppler corrected, cross polarization and spill-over corrected or APC corrected according to Earth surface type, averaged along scan and along the ground track. The data have been converted to netCDF 3-hourly files.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) is a series of passive microwave conically scanning imagers and sounders onboard the DMSP satellites beginning with F-16. SSMIS improves upon the surface and atmospheric retrievals of the previous Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), and upon the atmospheric temperature and water vapor sounding capabilities of both the Special Sensor Microwave Temperature Sounder (SSM/T-1) and the Special Sensor Microwave Humidity Sounder (SSM/T-2). The SSMIS imaging and sounding sensors are able to estimate atmospheric temperature, moisture, and surface parameters. This temperature data record (TDR) contains earth-located sets of SSMIS antenna temperatures since November 2005 that have been surface tagged, calibrated, Doppler corrected, cross polarization and spill-over corrected or APC corrected according to Earth surface type, averaged along scan and along the ground track. The data have been converted to netCDF 3-hourly files.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) is a series of passive microwave conically scanning imagers and sounders onboard the DMSP satellites beginning with F-16. SSMIS improves upon the surface and atmospheric retrievals of the previous Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), and upon the atmospheric temperature and water vapor sounding capabilities of both the Special Sensor Microwave Temperature Sounder (SSM/T-1) and the Special Sensor Microwave Humidity Sounder (SSM/T-2). The SSMIS imaging and sounding sensors are able to estimate atmospheric temperature, moisture, and surface parameters. This temperature data record (TDR) contains earth-located sets of SSMIS antenna temperatures since November 2005 that have been surface tagged, calibrated, Doppler corrected, cross polarization and spill-over corrected or APC corrected according to Earth surface type, averaged along scan and along the ground track. The data have been converted to netCDF 3-hourly files.

The United States Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) is a polar orbiting meteorological sensor with two spectral bands (visible and thermal infrared) capable of acquiring global coverage on a daily basis at .27 km spatial resolution. Until 1992, there was no digital archive for DMSP-OLS data. Air Force meteorologists did their analysis using visible and thermal band film strips. The National Snow and Ice Data Center maintained an archive for OLS film from 1972-1992 through a cooperative institute with NOAA. In 1992, a digital archive for the OLS data was established at the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). In 1996, NGDC had the film archive shipped to the Federal Records Center at the Denver Federal Center due to storage limitations.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 19.36 (vertically and horizontally polarized), 22.235 (vertically polarized), 37.0 (vertically and horizontally polarized), and 85.5 GHz (vertically and horizontally polarized). The instrument was carried aboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites F8, F10, F11, F12, F13, and F15. The Temperature Data Records (TDRs) from SSM/I contain calibrated and earth-located data prior to the (irreversible) antenna pattern correction process. These SSM/I TDRs in network Common Data Format (netCDF) have embedded temperature and geolocation flags as well as a climatology flag that calculates deviations from a climatological norm for each radiance footprint or z-score. The original radiance and geolocation data are not changed. Variable orbital files from the originating TDR dataset have been aggregated into 3-hourly files for ease of use.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 19.36 (vertically and horizontally polarized), 22.235 (vertically polarized), 37.0 (vertically and horizontally polarized), and 85.5 GHz (vertically and horizontally polarized). The instrument was carried aboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites F8, F10, F11, F12, F13, and F15. The Temperature Data Records (TDRs) from SSM/I contain calibrated and earth-located data prior to the (irreversible) antenna pattern correction process. These SSM/I TDRs in network Common Data Format (netCDF) have embedded temperature and geolocation flags as well as a climatology flag that calculates deviations from a climatological norm for each radiance footprint or z-score. The original radiance and geolocation data are not changed. Variable orbital files from the originating TDR dataset have been aggregated into 3-hourly files for ease of use.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 19.36 (vertically and horizontally polarized), 22.235 (vertically polarized), 37.0 (vertically and horizontally polarized), and 85.5 GHz (vertically and horizontally polarized). The instrument was carried aboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites F8, F10, F11, F12, F13, and F15. The Sensor Data Records (SDRs) from SSM/I contain calibrated and earth-located data after antenna pattern corrections have been applied. These SSM/I SDRs in network Common Data Format (netCDF) have embedded temperature and geolocation flags as well as a climatology flag that calculates deviations from a climatological norm for each radiance footprint or z-score. The original radiance and geolocation data are not changed. Variable orbital files from the originating SDR dataset have been aggregated into 3-hourly files for ease of use.

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 19.36 (vertically and horizontally polarized), 22.235 (vertically polarized), 37.0 (vertically and horizontally polarized), and 85.5 GHz (vertically and horizontally polarized). The instrument was carried aboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites F8, F10, F11, F12, F13, and F15. The Sensor Data Records (SDRs) from SSM/I contain calibrated and earth-located data after antenna pattern corrections have been applied. These SSM/I SDRs in network Common Data Format (netCDF) have embedded temperature and geolocation flags as well as a climatology flag that calculates deviations from a climatological norm for each radiance footprint or z-score. The original radiance and geolocation data are not changed. Variable orbital files from the originating SDR dataset have been aggregated into 3-hourly files for ease of use.