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    • TROPICS06 L2B Tropical Cyclone Intensity Estimate (TCIE) Algorithm V1.0

    Metadata Updated: January 30, 2026

    The "Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats" (TROPICS) mission has a goal of providing nearly all-weather observations of three-dimensional temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high-value science investigations of tropical cyclones. The mission comprises a constellation of five identical Space Vehicles (SVs) conforming to the 3U form factor and hosting a passive microwave spectrometer payload.

    Each SV hosts an identical high-performance spectrometer named the TROPICS Millimeter-wave Sounder (TMS) that will provide temperature profiles using seven channels near the 118.75-GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapor profiles using three channels near the 183-GHz water vapor absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements (when combined with higher resolution water vapor channels), and a single channel near 205 GHz that is more sensitive to cloud-sized ice particles.

    The TROPICS Tropical Cyclone Intensity Estimate algorithm (TCIE), developed at the University of Wisconsin/CIMSS that uses native microwave brightness temperatures, estimates two primary TC variables: Minimum Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) and Maximum Sustained Winds (MSW). The TROPICS TCIE uses the brightness temperature perturbation of two temperature sounding channels (Ch. 6 and Ch. 7) and one channel from the moisture sounding channel (Ch. 1) along with ancillary information from the TC working best track file and the CIMSS ARCHER algorithm (eye size information) to estimate the TC intensity. This validated TCIE data release starts in June 2023 for the constellation CubeSats, and August 2021 for the TROPICS-01/Pathfinder.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    References

    https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3290

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date November 19, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date January 30, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NASA Data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date November 19, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date January 30, 2026
    Publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/GCDC/GESDISC
    Maintainer
    Identifier C3280808959-GES_DISC
    Data First Published 2021-07-19
    Language en-US
    Data Last Modified 2025-03-31
    Category TROPICS (EVI-3), geospatial
    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 40e38b2e-50c3-4296-bbbf-77ce8dcb19e5
    Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
    Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
    Homepage URL https://doi.org/10.5067/GBGDF4SI8QDS
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial -180.0 -90.0 180.0 90.0
    Program Code 026:001
    Related Documents https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3290
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 9ee9ccbb0ffa5593b4fca0c69f036cb0409836d5ae12fb08f23799f5bbd1e93a
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 2021-07-19T00:00:00Z/2024-11-18T00:00:00Z

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