Level-1 Products (Satellite measurements)

Level-0 to Level-1 processing is performed by ISRO. The Level-1 products consist of Brightness Temperature (MADRAS and SAPHIR) and of TOA Radiance (ScaRaB) along with geolocation, time of acquisition, and other relevant parameters and flags.Three types of Level-1 products will ultimately be disseminated to users, each corresponding to a different level of processing:

  • The L1A product contains the instrument radiometric samples for all channels in scan mode (sensor geometry)
  • The L1A2 product is an along-scan re-sampled version of L1A that provides non-overlapping pixels, in equal number in all channels
  • The L1A3 product is the projection of L1A2 onto the 89GHz MADRAS Grid (i.e. MADRAS conical-scan sensor geometry)

For each of these 3 types of Level-1 products, 2 data-chunking schemes are applied that generate 2 types of files:

  • Segments (S): sections of orbits, variable in size, possibly exceeding one full revolution, possibly redunding data over 2 segments (primarily for Near Real-Time use)
  • Orbits (O): data chunks that match exactly one orbit (i.e. one revolution) from one ascending node to the next (standard product)

CNES and ISRO issued the Level-1 product definition for MADRAS, SAPHIR and ScaRaB, which includes the extended file naming convention of data products. CNES documents provide the Level-1 version history, a Summary on flags and a list of the mission incidents. Additionally, a summary of potential geolocation anomalies not detectable through quality flags is maintained and provided here. The Megha-Tropiques team issued the Megha-Tropiques Level 1 product handbook describing the mission and the products to ease the use of level 1 products.

Megha-Tropiques Level-1 products

Retrieved parameterProduct NameProduct TypeSensorSpatial ResolutionNo. of OverpassesDistribution StatusRelease information
Level-1 Megha-Tropiques Brightness Temperature and Radiance Release informationResp.: ISRO/CNES
Brightness TemperatureMT1MADOL1A
MT1MADOL1A2
OrbitMADRAS6 to 40 km1-6 times/day
28°S/28°N redirection to documentation
Public
MT1MADSL1A redirection to documentation
MT1MADSL1A2 redirection to documentation
Segment
Brightness TemperatureMT1SAPOL1A redirection to documentation
MT1SAPOL1A2 redirection to documentation
OrbitSAPHIR10 km at nadir1-6 times/day
28°S/28°N redirection to documentation
Public
MT1SAPSL1A redirection to documentation
MT1SAPSL1A2 redirection to documentation
Segment
Filtered RadianceMT1SCAOL1A redirection to documentation
MT1SCAOL1A2 redirection to documentation
OrbitScaRaB40 km at nadir1-7 times/day
30°S/30°N redirection to documentation
Public
MT1SCASL1A redirection to documentation
MT1SCASL1A2 redirection to documentation
Segment

Level-2 and Level-4 Products (Geophysical parameters)

Four main product groups are generated from Megha-Tropiques Level-1 data, in combination with geostationary sensors for some of the products: Precipitation, Water Vapor, Radiation, and Cloud information.

  • Level-2 and Level-4 Rain products: Level-2 « Instantaneaous precipitating conditions » products are generated from the MADRAS Level-1 data. The level-4 production involves the use of the geostationary data.
  • Level-2 Water Vapor products, obtained in clear and cloudy but non-precipitating scenes, over land and ocean, include the Relative Humidity Profiles and the Upper Tropospheric Humidity derived from SAPHIR data
  • Level-2 Radiative Budget products are derived from ScaRaB and include SW and LW outgoing fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and the albedo.
  • Level-2 Cloud products such as cloud mask, cloud classification are produced solely from geostationary satellites as complementary data and are used in Level-2 algorithms.

The following tables list all the Megha-Tropiques products derived from science codes developped by the French science team at IPSL. The tables provide links to the product description and algorithm description (if available) and provide the expected date for product release.

Megha-Tropiques Level-2 science products

Retrieved parameterProduct NameSensorSpatial ResolutionNo. of OverpassesDistribution StatusRelease information
Level-2 Precipitation (Instantaneous) redirection to documentationPI: N. Viltard (IPSL/LATMOS)
Surface Rainfall
Convective Rainfall
Retrieval error
Liquid Cloud content profile
Liquid precipitation content profile
Ice Cloud content profile
Ice Precipitation content profile
L2-RAIN redirection to documentationMADRAS20 km1-6 times/day
28°S/28°N redirection to documentation
Not public
Level-2 Water Vapor – Non precipitating conditions (Instantaneous) redirection to documentationPI: H. Brogniez (IPSL/LATMOS)
Relative Humidity profile
L2-RH redirection to documentationSAPHIR10 km
at nadir
1-6 times/day
28°S/28°N redirection to documentation
Public
Relative Humidity profile
L2B-RH redirection to documentationSAPHIR1 deg.1-6 times/day
28°S/28°N redirection to documentation
Public
Upper Tropospheric HumidityL2-UTH redirection to documentationSAPHIR10 km
at nadir
1-6 times/day
28°S/28°N redirection to documentation
Public
Upper Tropospheric HumidityL2B-UTH redirection to documentationSAPHIR1 deg.1-6 times/day
28°S/28°N redirection to documentation
Public
Level-2 Radiative Budget (Instantaneous) redirection to documentationPI: O. Chomette (IPSL/LMD)
LW, SW TOA outgoing fluxes
Unfiltered Radiance
Albedo
L2-FLUX redirection to documentationScaRaB40 km
at nadir
1-7 times/day
30°S/30°N redirection to documentation
Public
LW, SW TOA outgoing fluxes
Albedo
L2B-FLUXredirection to documentationScaRaB0.5 deg. and
1 deg.
1-7 times/day
30°S/30°N redirection to documentation
Public
Level-2 Geostationary Cloud Products (Based on SAFNWC algorithms) redirection to documentationPI: G. Sèze (IPSL/LMD)
Cloud mask
GEOCLD_CMa redirection to documentation
SAFNWC_CMa redirection to documentation
MSG,MTSAT,
HIMAWARI,
GOES-E,
GOES-W 
3 or 4 kmevery
15 or 30 min
Public
Cloud type classification
GEOCLD_CT redirection to documentation
SAFNWC_CT redirection to documentation
MSG,MTSAT,
HIMAWARI,
GOES-E,
GOES-W
3 or 4 kmevery
15 or 30 min
Public
Cloud top characterization
GEOCLD_CTTH redirection to documentation
SAFNWC_CTTH redirection to documentation
MSG,MTSAT,
HIMAWARI,
GOES-E,
GOES-W
3 or 4 kmevery
15 or 30 min
Public

Megha-Tropiques Level-4 science products

Retrieved parameterProduct NameSensorSpatial ResolutionComposite PeriodDistribution StatusRelease information
Level-4 Surface accumulated rainfall redirection to documentationPI: R. Roca (OMP/LEGOS)
Surface accumulated
rainfall
L4-TAPEER-BRAINredirection to documentationMT/SAPHIR,
GCOMW1/AMSR-2,
F15/SSMI,F16/SSMIS,
F17/SSMIS,F18/SSMIS,
TRMM/TMI,MFG,MSG,
MTSAT,HIMAWARI,
GOES-E,GOES-W
1 degdailyPublic

Tapeer-Brain configuration summary

File Naming Convention

The level-2 and upper Megha-Tropiques products are made available in standard formats (HDF4, HDF5, or NetCDF, depending on product specifications).

MT1_<PRODUCT>-<PARENT PRODUCT>_<YYYY-MM-DDThh-mm-ss>_V<X-XX>.<extension>

<PRODUCT> = Level-2 and upper product name (Ex.: L2-UTH, L2-FLUX, L2B-FLUX)
<PARENT PRODUCT> = Level-1 parent product (including Level-1 version)
<YYYY-MM-DDThh-mm-ss> = Date of the first record (Year,Month,Day,hour,minute,second)
V<X-XX> = Product version
<extension> = hdf or nc file extension

Examples:

  •  MT1_L2-FLUX-SCASL1A2-1.06_2013-10-21T00-05-59_V1-00.hdf: Radiative TOA fluxes derived from SCARAB segment-wise Level-1A2 v1.06 product
  •  MT1_L2B-FLUX-SCASL1A2-1.06_2013-10-21T00-05-59_V1-00.nc: Radiative TOA fluxes derived from SCARAB segment-wise Level-1A2 v1.06 product
  •  MT1_L2-UTH-SAPSL1A2-1.06_2013-10-21T00-05-59_V1-00.hdf: Upper Tropospheric Humidity derived from SAPHIR segment-wise Level-1A2 v1.06 product

Version history

Currently, versions v1.06.7000, v1.07.8000 and v1.08.9000 of SAPHIR and ScaRaB Level-1A and Level-1A2 data products are distributed as Collection 2 in the ICARE Catalogue. Versions v1.05 and v1.06 of SAPHIR and ScaRaB Level-1A and Level-1A2 data products are assembled in Collection 1. Data products from earlier versions (v1.02, v1.03, v1.04) are assembled in Collection 0 (see table below for time periods).
Please note that this is the list of products that currently exist in the ICARE archive and that some of them are for evaluation only and not distributed to the public. See the catalogue for data availability.


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