Aqua/AMSR-E L1B Brightness Temperature

Product Summary

Aqua/AMSR-E L1B Brightness Temperature dataset is obtained from the AMSR-E sensor onboard Aqua and produced by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Aqua of NASA was launched on May 4th, 2002 in Sun-synchronous sub-recurrent Orbit. Aqua observes various kinds of physical phenomena related to water and energy circulation from space. Aqua data promoted the research activities for interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and lands, and their effects on climate changes.
AMSR-E scans the Earth's surface by mechanically rotating the antenna and acquires radiance data of the Earth's surface. Each frequency band is monitored by vertical and horizontal polarized wave. It conically scans and keeps an angle of incidence on the earth surface (a nominal of 55 degrees) and accomplishes a swath width of about 1450 km. The AMSR-E reached its limit to maintain the antenna rotation speed necessary for regular observations, and the AMSR-E restarted its observation in slow rotation mode (2 rotations per minute) on December 4, 2012. However, the AMSR-E reached its limit to maintain the antenna rotation speed necessary for slow rotation mode and it automatically halted its observation and rotation on December 4, 2015.
This product includes Brightness Temperature. Values that are calculated from sensor counts and are proportional to the power of observed electromagnetic wave. They are expressed by the physical temperature of blackbody, which can emit the electromagnetic wave with the same power, and unit is Kelvin. Brightness Temperature is fundamental data to retrieve geophysical parameters. Data is converted by the radiometric correction coefficients from observed sensor data of level 1A. It also contains the ancillary data stored in level 1A product. The physical quantity unit is Kelvin.
For AMSR/AMSR-E, they correspond to brightness temperatures. Data location and quality information are also included. Data are not map-projected, but stored in the swath format.
The provided format is HDF4. The current version of the product is "Version 3". The generation unit is scene (defined as a half orbit).

Platform

Aqua

Sensor

AMSR-E

Coverage

Temporal Coverage

2002-06-01 to 2011-10-05

Spatial Coverage

Bounding Rectangle
(90.0°, -180.0°, -90.0°, 180.0°)

Resolution

Location

• GLOBAL > GLOBAL