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Nimbus 7 (or Nimbus-G) was a meteorology and research satellite launched by NASA into a Sun-synchronous near-polar orbit on October 24, 1978. It was the last in a series of second-generation meteorological satellites in the Nimbus program. 

Nimbus 7 was designed to collect observations for studies of oceanography, meteorology, and atmospheric chemistry. The spacecraft carried nine instruments capable of observing parameters at and below the mesospheric levels:

  • Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS)
  • Earth Radiation Budget (ERB)
  • Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS)
  • Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement (SAM II)
  • Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (SAMS)
  • Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV)
  • Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR)
  • Temperature Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR)
  • Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)

Nimbus 7 operated successfully for more than 16 years. The last data were collected in October 1994.

Data

84 Datasets

Type

Earth Observation Satellite

Objective

Study Earth's weather, atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and energy budget

Launch

Oct. 24, 1978

Data Center

ASDC
GES DISC
 

Instruments Aboard Nimbus-7

Instrument Name Operational Date(s) Spectral Resolution Type of Instrument
Coastal Zone Color Scanner Experiment (CZCS) Oct. 30, 1978 to June 22, 1986

443, 520, 550, and 670 nanometers

Spectrometer/Radiometer
Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement (SAM) II (SAM II) Jan. 1978 - Aug. 1994

Single channel, wavelength: 0.98-1.02 µm

Spectrometers/Radiometers
Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) 1978-1987

10-channel (five-frequency dual polarized) scanning radiometer operating at 0.8-, 1.4-, 1.7-, 2.8-, and 4.6-cm wavelengths (37, 21, 18, 10.7, and 6.6 GHz)

Spectrometers/Radiometers
Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)

310 and 380 nm

Spectrometers/Radiometers

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