Abstract:
DMSP OLS level 0 raw telemetry data are acquired on selective passes
by satellite receivers located at McMurdo Station, Antarctica (77
degrees, 51 minutes S, 166 degrees, 40 minutes E.) and Palmer Station,
Antarctic Peninsula (64 degrees, 46 minutes S, 64 degrees, 4 minutes
W.) Generally, most of the Antarctic continent and
... its coastline are
covered daily. Swaths are 2250 kilometers long and generally start or
end over the extreme South Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Ross
Sea. Continuous data collection at McMurdo Station began on 9 February
1991, and at Palmer Station on 18 January 1990. The band width for
LF/LS (light fine/smooth) is 00.4 - 01.1um and the TF/TS (temperature
fine/smooth) is 10.8 - 12.5um. The data resolution is 550 meters at
crosstrack.
Data are archived, processed for requesters, and distributed by the
Arctic & Antarctic Research Center (AARC). Processing of the raw data
will depend on the requirements of the requester, but a typical
sequence might be as follows:
+ Reformat raw data for extraction; up to 10 missing scan lines can be
interpolated by the software.
+ Calibrate the reformatted data to convert from brightness values to
temperature values.
+ Apply the moisture/atmospheric correction.
+ Register selected data to the user-specified grid.
+ Transfer to user-specified medium. Some examples are tape, diskette,
photographic product, or file format for electronic transfer.
About 95 percent of the presently archived data is cataloged in our
online directory. Data dropouts, caused by transmission interference
due to solar flare activity, occur in some images; the processing software
can smooth the data if fewer than 10 scan lines are missing. All archived
images contain usable data.
Processed data are binary byte arrays of user-defined size. Full
spacecraft attitude correction and earth correction routines are
applied to the raw data to create the products. Orbital elements,
equator crossings, altitude and period of the spacecraft are generated
for the raw data using the AARC scientific workstation. Data products
can be gridded to a user-specified grid.
Data are also available in raw form (10 bits of information stored in
a 16 bit word) on DDS2 or DDS3 DAT cassettes or on DLT7000 tapes.
Users would need access to an 4mm DAT or DLT7000 tape drive.
An alternative method to access the digital archive is to use
the Sun Workstations located at the AARC, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography. AARC personnel can be contacted for access information. 
