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Description

This data set provides daily gridded brightness temperatures derived from passive microwave sensors and distributed in a polar stereographic projection. NSIDC produces daily gridded brightness temperatures from orbital swath data generated by the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) aboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F8, F11, and F13 platforms and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) aboard DMSP F17 and F18. The SSM/I and SSMIS channels used to calculate brightness temperatures include 19.3 GHz vertical and horizontal, 22.2 GHz vertical, 37.0 GHz vertical and horizontal, 85.5 GHz vertical and horizontal (on SSM/I), and 91.7 GHz vertical and horizontal (on SSMIS). Data at 85.5 GHz and 91.7 GHz are gridded at a resolution of 12.5 km, with all other frequencies at a resolution of 25 km. Orbital data for each 24-hour period are mapped to respective grid cells using a simple sum-and-average method, also known as the drop-in-the-bucket method. Data coverage began on 09 July 1987 and is ongoing through the most current processing, with updated data processed several times annually.

Version Description

This version contains the following changes: - Data set was converted from binary to NetCDF format. - Daily files now contain data from all available sensors for a particular day.

Product Summary

Platforms
DMSP 5D-2/F11 ,
DMSP 5D-2/F13 ,
DMSP 5D-2/F8 ,
DMSP 5D-3/F17 ,
DMSP 5D-3/F18
Instruments
SSM/I ,
SSMIS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: 30 E: 180 W: -180

,

N: -39 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers
12.5 Kilometers x 12.5 Kilometers
Spatial Reference System(s)
Multiple EPSG codes (see User Guide)
Location
HUDSON BAY ,
POLAR ,
ARCTIC OCEAN ,
ATLANTIC OCEAN ,
NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN ,
SOUTHERN OCEAN
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
1987-07-09 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Concept ID
C3177782311-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
56604
Processing Level
3
Published
Science Keywords
Brightness Temperature

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Meier, W., Stewart, J., Wilcox, H., Scott, D., & Hardman, M. (2021). DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Daily Polar Gridded Brightness Temperatures, Version 6 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MXJL42WSXTS1 Date Accessed: 2026-06-10

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Arctic marine environments regulated by ocean transport and airsealand interaction: Findings from the ArCS II Ocean Research Program Watanabe, Eiji, Ueno, Hiromichi, Kodaira, Tsubasa, Murata, Akihiko, Nishino, Shigeto, Ikenoue, Takahito, Yamamoto, Masanobu, Nomura, Daiki, Abe, Hiroto, Kawaguchi, Yusuke, Hirano, Daisuke, Zhang, Yuanxin, Yasunaka, Sayaka Brightness Temperature
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean Clem, Kyle R., Raphael, Marilyn N., Adusumilli, Susheel, Baiman, Rebecca, Banwell, Alison F., Barreira, Sandra, Beadling, Rebecca L., Colwell, Steve, Coy, Lawrence, Datta, Rajashree T., De Laat, Jos, Dunmire, Devon, Fogt, Ryan L., Freeman, Natalie M., Fricker, Helen Amanda, Gardner, Alex S., Johnson, Bryan, Keller, Linda M., Kramarova, Natalya A., Lazzara, Matthew A., Lieser, Jan L., MacFerrin, Michael, MacGilchrist, Graeme A., MacLennan, Michelle L., Massom, Robert A., Mazloff, Matthew R., Mote, Thomas L., Nash, Eric R., Newman, Paul A., Norton, Taylor, Petropavlovskikh, Irina, Pitts, Michael, Reid, Phillip, Santee, Michelle L., Scambos, Ted A., Shi, Jia-Rui, Stammerjohn, Sharon, Strahan, Susan E., Thompson, Andrew F., Wille, Jonathan D., Wilson, Earle Sea Ice Concentration, Snow Melt, Snow Melt, Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Brightness Temperature
Oceanic conditions in the Barrow Coastal Polynya revealed by a 10-year mooring time series Hirano, Daisuke, Fukamachi, Yasushi, Ohshima, Kay I., Ito, Masato, Tamura, Takeshi, Simizu, Daisuke, Takatsuka, Toru, Mahoney, Andrew R., Jones, Joshua, George, Craig, Adams, Billy, Eicken, Hajo Brightness Temperature
The ice factory of Hudson Bay: Spatiotemporal variability of the Kivalliq Polynya Bruneau, Jennifer, Babb, David, Chan, Wayne, Kirillov, Sergei, Ehn, Jens, Hanesiak, John, Barber, David G. Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Snow Depth
Potential of melt pond fraction retrieval from high spatial resolution AMSR-E/2 channels Tanaka, Yasuhiro, Scharien, Randall Kenneth Brightness Temperature
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