Operational Microwave Integrated Retrieval System

The operational Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) aims to upgrade the NESDIS current operational Microwave Surface and Precipitation Products System (MSPPS) and build a one-stop shop for microwave products from various satellites with different instrumental configurations. With the capability of providing optimal and physically-based retrievals of atmospheric and surface state parameters, the operational MIRS will produce advanced near-real-time surface and precipitation products in all-weather and over all-surface conditions using brightness temperatures from the microwave instruments, which include AMSU-A and MHS instruments on board of NOAA and EUMETSAT polar orbiting satellites, SSMIS on DMSP polar satellites and ATMS on S-NPP. The operational products include: vertical profiles of temperature and moisture, rainfall rate, total precipitable water, cloud liquid water, snow cover, snow water equivalent, sea ice concentration, ice water path, surface emissivity spectra and land surface temperature. These products have been made operationally available to users with different types (orbital, granule/Area of Interests, daily) and formats (HDF-EOS/HDF, nCDF, McIDAS and AWIPS) through a multi-year stratified phase approach.

The operational products from NOAA-18, NOAA-19, Metop-A, Metop-B, and S-NPP include: temperature profile over ocean, moisture profiles over ocean and non-coastal land, total precipitable water over ocean and non-costal land, cloud liquid water over ocean, rain water path, ice water path, rainfall rate, snow cover, sea ice concentration, snow water equivalent, land surface temperature, surface emissivity over land and snow for all AMSU-A and MHS channels. The operational products from F18 include: total precipitable water over ocean, cloud liquid water over ocean, rain water path, ice water path, rainfall rate, snow cover, sea ice concentration, snow water equivalent, land surface temperature, surface emissivity over land and snow for all SSMIS channels. The SSMIS temperature and moisture profiles over ocean are also made available to users as demo products. Staring with Metop-B and beyond, the orbital MiRS retrievals will be provided at MHS footprints (so-called high resolution products), and made available in netCDF4 format only. No HDF-EOS format will be available.

The MIRS retrospective data have being archived since August 30, 2007 starting from version 1.0, and can be acquired from the National Climatic Data Center and the Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System.