Nimbus-7 Narrow Field of View (NFOV) Maximum Likelihood Cloud Estimation (MLCE) Data in Native Format

The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) parameters, derived from the Nimbus-7 scanner measurements, were rederived in 1990 using a Maximum Likelihood Cloud Estimation (MLCE) algorithm similar, but not identical, to the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) algorithm.

Daily and monthly means are presented on two commensurate equal area world grids: (167 km by 167 km) and (500 km by 500 km). The MLCE procedure also yielded a rough estimate of the regional cloud cover.The scanner took measurements from November 16, 1978 through June 20, 1980; however, only 13 months (May 1979 through May 1980) of data sampling were reprocessed using the Sorting into Angular Bins and MLCE algorithms. There was poorer temporal sampling during the first five months of the experiment.The Nimbus 7 research-and-development satellite served as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced systems for sensing and collecting data in the pollution, oceanographic and meteorological disciplines.