PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment) Level 1A Calibrated Spectral Radiance from PREFIRE Satellite 1 (PREFIRE_SAT1_1A-RAD) contains calibrated radiance data derived from data collected by the PREFIRE Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIRS-PREFIRE) aboard PREFIRE-SAT1. Duel CubeSats each carry a TIRS-PREFIRE, a push broom spectrometer with 63 channels measuring mid- and far-infrared (FIR) radiation from approximately 5 to 53 µm. Most polar emissions are in the FIR but have not been measured on a large scale. PREFIRE aims to fill knowledge gaps in the global energy budget by more accurately characterizing polar emissions. This information will then be assimilated into global circulation and other climate models to predict future climates more accurately.

Digital number counts from the PREFIRE_SAT1_0-PAYLOAD-TLM collection are converted to radiance and calibrated using an internal blackbody target and space-look data.

The PREFIRE_SAT1_1A-RAD data is used as input for PREFIRE_SAT1_1B-RAD, which is geolocated radiance. Given that it is not geolocated, PREFIRE_SAT1_1A-RAD is not useful for direct scientific study.

Data retrieval started in May TBD, 2024, and is ongoing. Geographic coverage is global, with the greatest concentration of data in the polar regions. This data has a temporal resolution of 0.707 seconds and is available in netCDF-4.

Calibrated radiance data for the sister instrument aboard PREFIRE-SAT2 can be found in the PREFIRE_SAT2_1A-RAD collection.