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TIROS-3 Medium-Resolution Scanning Radiometer Level 1 Final Meteorological Radiation Data V001 (TIROS3L1FMRT) at GES DISC

Metadata Updated: April 9, 2026

TIROS-3 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, 2 and 4) 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-3 satellite was successfully launched on July 12, 1961. The Medium-Resolution Scanning Radiometer experiment returned data for about two and a half months. A previous instrument flew on TIROS-2 and two follow-on instruments were flown on TIROS-4 and -7. Response characteristics of all channels degraded rapidly after launch. The greatest uncertainty in the radiation measurements is due to the apparent shift in the zero radiation level. Data are usable for channels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 up to orbits 118, 875, 875, 130 and 300, respectively. 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 absorption Channel 2: 8.0 to 12.0 microns - atmospheric window Channel 3: 0.2 to 6.0 microns - reflected solar radiation Channel 4: 8.0 to 30 - terrestial radiation Channel 5: 0.55 to 0.75 microns - response to the TV system The 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-00141 (old id 61-017A-03A).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date April 9, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date April 9, 2026
Publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
Maintainer
Identifier 10.5067/XQV4UWX1XJ8Q
Data Last Modified 2026-04-06
Category Earth Science
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id f7dc131f-cf87-4ef1-a60e-e27b2ca0b869
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
License https://www.usa.gov/government-works
Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":66,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-66}
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 4341ce2d9bd4f3eabdbd5f5669e11660d51a4742cc6dc5c102f8d61766f6d867
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial
Temporal 1961-07-12/1961-09-30

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