THE CEOS DATABASE : Missions, Instruments and Measurements
 
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CEOS EO HANDBOOK – INSTRUMENT SUMMARY - HIRS/2 -
Full Name High Resolution Infra-red Sounder/2 Status No longer operational
Instrument Agencies NOAA Maturity
Instrument Type Atmospheric temperature and humidity sounders Geometry Cross-track scanning
Instrument Technology Narrow-band channel IR radiometer Sampling Sounding
Data Access Data Format
Measurements and Applications Measures atmospheric temperature, concentrations of ozone, water vapour, methane, NOx, N2O, CFCs and other minor species, aerosol concentration, location of polar stratospheric clouds and cloud tops. Filter radiometer, 20 channels (including one VIS). Evolution of HIRS flown on Nimbus-6. HIRS/2 is part of the TOVS sounding instrument suite (TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder).
Resolution Summary 20.3 km
[Best Resolution: 20300m]
Swath Summary 2240 km
[Max Swath: 2240 km]
Accuracy Summary
Waveband Summary VIS - TIR: 0.69 - 14.95 µm (20 channels)
VIS (~0.40 µm - ~0.75 µm)
NIR (~0.75 µm - ~1.3 µm)
SWIR (~1.3 µm - ~3.0 µm)
MWIR (~3.0 µm - ~6.0 µm)
TIR (~6.0 µm - ~15.0 µm)
Instrument Measurements
CategoryParameterAccuracy
Atmospheric Humidity FieldsAtmospheric specific humidity (LT, HT, TC) 
Atmospheric Temperature FieldsAtmospheric temperature (LT, HT, LS, HS&M) 
Temperature of tropopause 
Cloud type, amount and cloud top temperatureCloud top height 
Cloud top temperature 
OzoneOzone profile 
Radiation budgetUpwelling (Outgoing) long-wave radiation at TOA 
Surface temperature (land)Land surface temperature 
Trace gases (excluding ozone)Atmospheric Chemistry - CO2 (column/profile) 
Instrument Missions
TIROS N - (1978 - 1981)
NOAA-6 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 6 (1979 - 1987)
NOAA-7 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 7 (1981 - 1986)
NOAA-8 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 8 (1983 - 1985)
NOAA-9 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 9 (1984 - 1998)
NOAA-10 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 10 (1986 - 2001)
NOAA-11 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 11 (1988 - 2004)
NOAA-12 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 12 (1991 - 2005)
NOAA-13 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 13 (1993 - 1993)
NOAA-14 - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - 14 (1994 - 2005)
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