Community Satellite Processing Package

  Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) Software Version 2.0 Release

9 October 2015

The University of Wisconsin-Madison SSEC is pleased to announce a new release of the NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) for retrieval of atmospheric profile and surface parameters from ATMS, AMSU-A, and MHS microwave sensor data. This package is in support of Direct Broadcast users, and is sponsored by the Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP) project funded by the NOAA/NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). MIRS is led by Xiwu Zhan and Chris Grassotti at the NOAA NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR). This release provides MIRS version 11.1 adapted and tested for operation in a real-time direct broadcast environment. For more information on MIRS, please visit http://mirs.nesdis.noaa.gov/.

The CSPP_MIRS v2.0 software package contains binary executable files and supporting static data files, as well as input and output files for verification of a successful installation. Source code for the MIRS package is not included in this release. Source code can be provided upon receipt of a signed NOAA license agreement available from http://mirs.nesdis.noaa.gov/downloaddap.php.

What is new in CSPP MIRS Version 2.0?
  • Base NOAA software upgraded to MIRS v11.1
  • NOAA-18, NOAA-19, Metop-A and Metop-B retrievals are now produced by default at the resolution of the MHS instrument, with AMSU-A data interpolated to match.
  • Arrays stored as scaled integers now have different scaling attributes. The "scale" divisor (100) attribute has changed to a multiplier (0.01) named "scale_factor". This was to bring the product into Climate and Forecast (CF) standards compliance. The stored integer values have not changed, so that a brightness temperature of 273.15K, for example, is still represented by an integer value 27315.
System requirements for the CSPP_MIRS v2.0 software are as follows:
  • Intel or AMD CPU with 64-bit instruction support,
  • 1 GB RAM
  • CentOS-6 64-bit Linux (or other compatible 64-bit Linux distribution),
  • 1 GB of disk space (plus space for your own DB data and CSPP_MIRS products).
Supported satellites, sensors, and data include:
  • Suomi NPP ATMS SDR (from CSPP)
  • NOAA 18 and 19 AMSU-A and MHS Level 1B (from AAPP)
  • Metop-A and Metop-B AMSU-A and MHS Level 1B (from AAPP)
Official Validated Products created by MIRS include:
  • Temperature profile over open water ocean
  • Humidity profile over open water ocean
  • Humidity profile over non-coastal Land
  • Total Precipitable Water (TPW) over open water ocean
  • Total Precipitable Water over non-coastal land
  • Land surface temperature
  • Surface Emissivity over land and snow - Surface Type Classification
  • Snow Water Equivalent (SWE)
  • Sea Ice Concentration (SIC)
  • Snow Cover Extent (SCE), based on the SWE
  • Vertically-Integrated Non-precipitating Cloud Liquid Water (CLW) over open water ocean
  • Vertically-Integrated Ice Water Path (IWP)
  • Vertically-Integrated Rain Water Path (RWP)
  • Rainfall Rate (RR) over open water ocean and non-coastal, non-snow-covered land surface types
  • Effective grain size of snow (over snow-covered land surface)*
  • Multi-Year (MY) Type Sea Ice Concentration*
  • First-Year (FY) Type Sea Ice Concentration*
  • Snow fall rate (SFR)
    • *Note that FY and MY Sea Ice Concentration, as well as Snow Grain Size are not officially operational, but preliminary products, which is a higher maturity level than experimental status.
Experimental Products (not fully validated) created by MIRS include:
  • Cloud Liquid Water Profile (CLWP) over ocean
  • Surface Temperature (skin) extended to snow-covered land surface type
  • Surface Temperature (skin) extended to open ocean water

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