EOSDIS Data Sampler #3 - UARS MLS Instrument Data

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UARS MLS Instrument Data:
UARS MLS Relative Humidity with respect to (wrt) Ice and Volume Mixing Ratio (vmr) Science Product, Level 2 (JPL)

Dec. 27, 1997 image

UARS MLS Image December 27, 1997; El Niño)

**UARS MLS Data Provided**
Data Products on This CD	Local Granule ID (PO.DAAC)	Dataset Name on This CD (Link to Catalog)
UARS MLS L2 UTH GLOBAL DATA	l2uth_d2299_v505_xptl.dat_1 (December 27, 1997)	l2uth_d2299_v505_xptl.dat_1
IDL Utility Programs	dayuars.pro read_ascii_uth_l2_file.pro read_lvl3at_gen.pro uarsday.pro	IDL Utility Programs

After a successful launch on September 15, 1991, the UARS MLS instrument began science operations on September 19, 1991, within 1 week of launch. The averaging interval is 1 day for the L2 set of global Upper Tropospheric Humidity (UTH) data.

Teams of scientists worldwide receive the data to perform research in areas of international concern. Additionally, UARS MLS data and products are available to all users, without restriction, at no more than the cost of dissemination, regardless of the intended use.

Chart (GIF image) showing spectral bandwidth for UARS instruments.

Table showing data processing levels

Sample Information

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The EOSDIS Data Sampler #3 provides as a sample dataset a L2 granule (1-day averaged global Upper Tropospheric Humidity (UTH)) of the UARS MLS relative humidity wrt ice and volume mixing ratio (in parts per million volume) science product, Level 2 (JPL).

The sample for UARS day-in-orbit #2299 was downloaded from an FTP site of the JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC).

This sample dataset shows the state of the atmosphere at a height of 10-12 km for a well-developed El Niño. An increase in sea surface temperatures for the central and eastern equatorial Pacific resulted in an increase in the rate of evaporation. The dataset shows areas of unusually dry air over Indonesia and high water vapor off the coast of South America. The resulting warm, moist air rose into the atmosphere as tall cloud towers, producing an excess of rain and altering global weather patterns.

UARS MLS is the heritage instrument for MLS on Aura. Prior to the launch of Aura, new ENSO events can be monitored using MODIS.

Data Product Quality

There is no known quality problem with this granule.

This information came from the Header Record for granule: l2uth_d2299_v505_xptl.dat_1

General Information

Data Set ID V500 UARS MLS upper tropospheric humidity retrieval

Parameters

Header Record (one)

MLS L1 file name
MLS L2 file name
Temperature file name
MLS radiometer channel

Data Records (many, usually 1318)

data_rec: The measurement sequence number for the day
ref_lat: The latitude tag for the measurement in +/- (N/S) degrees.
ref_long: The longitude tag for the measurement in degrees east.
loc_time: Approximate local solar time of the measurement in hours.
sza: local solar zenith angle in degrees.
u_time: Is universal time in hours.
status: Is the measurement status, 'G' is good.
one_layer: % Ice relative humidity estimate for the entire troposphere.
chi_sqr: A measure of how well the one layer relative humidity fit the measurements.
no_of_ptgs: number of MLS limb views below 80 hPa height.
radiance fit table.
radiance chi square: Normalized chi square of the radiometric fit.
profile table.
Covariance matrix off diagonal elements.

UTH Retrieval for:
27-DEC-1997 UDTF date: 97361 UARS day: 2299

General Information
Data Set ID	V500 UARS MLS upper tropospheric humidity retrieval
Parameters	Header Record (one) MLS L1 file name MLS L2 file name Temperature file name MLS radiometer channel Data Records (many, usually 1318) data_rec: The measurement sequence number for the day ref_lat: The latitude tag for the measurement in +/- (N/S) degrees. ref_long: The longitude tag for the measurement in degrees east. loc_time: Approximate local solar time of the measurement in hours. sza: local solar zenith angle in degrees. u_time: Is universal time in hours. status: Is the measurement status, 'G' is good. one_layer: % Ice relative humidity estimate for the entire troposphere. chi_sqr: A measure of how well the one layer relative humidity fit the measurements. no_of_ptgs: number of MLS limb views below 80 hPa height. radiance fit table. radiance chi square: Normalized chi square of the radiometric fit. profile table. Covariance matrix off diagonal elements.
UTH Retrieval for:	27-DEC-1997 UDTF date: 97361 UARS day: 2299

How To Order

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This and other granules can be obtained using

The GSFC Earth Sciences (GES) DAAC: http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/

The JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC) FTP site: ftp mls.jpl.nasa.gov cd ./pub/outgoing/UTH/v505_xpt1/12. (For data before June 15, 1997, use "v490/12" rather than "v505_xpt1/12".)

More general information on how to find and order Earth-observing instrument data is provided on this CD-ROM.

Local Links

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Disclaimer: NASA offers these suggested sites for additional information regarding UARS MLS data. Web access is required. Link existence and contents are not under the control of the EOSDIS Science Operations Office.

UARS MLS Web Sites

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Welcome to the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) Web Site: http://mls.jpl.nasa.gov/index.shtml
UARS MLS Version 5 Data: http://mls.jpl.nasa.gov/joe/um_v5_announcement.html
Upper tropospheric water vapor: http://mls.jpl.nasa.gov/joe/um_sci.html#h2o_uptrop
Microwave Limb Sounder/El Nino (sic) Watch - December 1997 http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/viewrecord?1860

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