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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.

Version Description

  • Updated version to reflect the beginning of the F18 data record
  • RSS, who process the raw satellite measurements into brightness temperature estimates, changed their processing algorithms from version V7 to V8

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
Projects
PM-LT
Spatial Extent

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

,

N: 90 S: 30 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 2021-01-01
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Concept ID
C2984890130-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
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., Wilcox, H., Hardman, M., & Stewart, J. (2019). DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Daily Polar Gridded Brightness Temperatures, Version 5 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/QU2UYQ6T0B3P Date Accessed: 2026-09-12

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Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
Snow depth product over Antarctic sea ice from 2002 to 2020 using multisource passive microwave radiometers Shen, Xiaoyi, Ke, Chang-Qing, Li, Haili Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Ice Roughness, Brightness Temperature, Freeboard
An enhanced resolution brightness temperature product for future conical scanning microwave radiometers Nunziata, Ferdinando, Alparone, Matteo, Camps, Adriano, Park, Hyuk, Zurita, Alberto M., Estatico, Claudio, Migliaccio, Maurizio ANTENNA TEMPERATURE, Brightness Temperature, Brightness Temperature
On the use of preconditioners to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of iterative methods to enhance the spatial resolution of radiometer measurements Alparone, Matteo, Nunziata, Ferdinando, Estatico, Claudio, Migliaccio, Maurizio Brightness Temperature, Brightness Temperature
Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Ice Sheet Snowmelt in Antarctica and Greenland Using Microwave Radiometer Data Liang, Lei, Li, Xinwu, Zheng, Fei Brightness Temperature, Brightness Temperature
Empirical parametrization of Envisat freeboard retrieval of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice based on CryoSat-2: progress in the ESA Climate Change Initiative Paul, Stephan, Hendricks, Stefan, Ricker, Robert, Kern, Stefan, Rinne, Eero Brightness Temperature
Unsupervised detection of contextual anomaly in remotely sensed data Liu, Qi, Klucik, Rudy, Chen, Chao, Grant, Glenn, Gallaher, David, Lv, Qin, Shang, Li Brightness Temperature
Atmospheric forcing of sea ice anomalies in the Ross Sea polynya region Dale, Ethan R., McDonald, Adrian J., Coggins, Jack H. J., Rack, Wolfgang Brightness Temperature
Environmental controls of marine productivity hot spots around Antarctica Arrigo, Kevin R., van Dijken, Gert L., Strong, Aaron L. Brightness Temperature
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