# NOAA MiRS Level-2 Sounding Products
*data products*

## Specifications
- **level**: L2
- **distributor**: noaa
- **file format**: netCDF
- **access endpoint**: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/atmosphere/mirs/
- **access model**: open
- **licence**: NOAA public data
- **cost model summary**: Free public NOAA operational product access.
- **primary data portal url**: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/atmosphere/mirs/
- **use cases**: ["Temperature profile retrieval","Moisture profile retrieval","Operational weather analysis","Microwave sounding product distribution"]
- **practical limitations**: ["MiRS is a microwave retrieval product family, not a GNSS radio-occultation product.","Product suite includes many hydrometeor and surface outputs beyond atmospheric profiling."]
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **entity type**: data_product
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-14
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: noaa
- **attributes**: {"level":"L2","distributor":"noaa","file_format":"netCDF","access_endpoint":"https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/atmosphere/mirs/","access_model":"open","licence":"NOAA public data","cost_model_summary":"Free public NOAA operational product access.","primary_data_portal_url":"https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/atmosphere/mirs/","use_cases":"[\"Temperature profile retrieval\",\"Moisture profile retrieval\",\"Operational weather analysis\",\"Microwave sounding product distribution\"]","practical_limitations":"[\"MiRS is a microwave retrieval product family, not a GNSS radio-occultation product.\",\"Product suite includes many hydrometeor and surface outputs beyond atmospheric profiling.\"]","deployment_context":"orbital"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
NOAA MiRS Level-2 Sounding Products are open Level 2 microwave retrieval products distributed by NOAA for atmospheric sounding use.[^noaa-ospo-mirs][^noaa-star-mirs] The Microwave Integrated Retrieval System product suite includes vertical profiles of temperature and moisture from microwave sounding sensors, along with hydrometeor and surface outputs beyond atmospheric profiling.[^noaa-ospo-mirs][^noaa-star-mirs] Level-2 sounding products are available as netCDF archive products, and operational product access is through NOAA OSPO.[^ncei-mirs-l2][^noaa-ospo-mirs] The product family fits weather analysis and retrieval workflows that need microwave-derived temperature and moisture profiles, not GNSS radio-occultation soundings or optical imagery.[^noaa-ospo-mirs] Users evaluating ingestion should account for the wider MiRS product suite, because the same operational family includes atmospheric, hydrometeor, and surface variables.[^noaa-ospo-mirs][^noaa-star-mirs] Access is open public NOAA product access, with free public distribution through NOAA operational and archive channels.[^noaa-ospo-mirs][^ncei-mirs-l2]

## Compositional position
- atmospheric-profiling (topics) --[topic_capabilities]--> NOAA MiRS Level-2 Sounding Products

## Sources
- [noaa-ospo-mirs] | MiRS operational products, NOAA OSPO | https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/atmosphere/mirs/ | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [noaa-star-mirs] | Microwave Integrated Retrieval System, NOAA STAR | https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/mirs/ | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [ncei-mirs-l2] | MiRS Level-2 Sounding Products metadata, NOAA NCEI | https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.ncdc%3AC01367 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/data_products/noaa-mirs-level-2-sounding-products
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