Global ISCCP B1 Browse System

GIBBS (which stands for Global ISCCP B1 Browse System), is a branch of the NCDC. It focuses on "progressing toward producing a new satellite resource for climate science." 

The website has archived more than 764,620 browsable satellite images as of April 2007. Because the data comes from geostationary satellites orbiting at an equatorial level, the images nearly global, excepting the poles. There are multiple satellites for multiple viewpoints, including GOES (which focuses on the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific) and Meteosat (which focuses on the Europe, Africa, and Western Asia), as well as other satellites. Images are veiwable per every three hours (eight images a day per satellite).

The archive goes back to March 1, 1981. GIBBS is currently planning to expand the archive back to 1979.

The Images
GIBBS images consist of Visible, Infared, and Water Vapor images. The resolution is 10km at the equator. The images all consist of orange lines to mark the edge of the coastline and a timestamp to the top left of each image.

Visible
Visible images usually give a very clear picture, but only when that side of the globe is partially or fully sunlit. If it isn't, visible images are useless.

Infared
Infared images, which may be the most useful, use infared waves to create an image of clouds. These images are completely visible no matter the time of day. Infared also allows one to distinguish the diference between high and low clouds. Lower couds are grayer, and higher clouds are whiter.

Water Vapor
Water Vapor images, obviously, give an image of the water vapor in the air. These are useful because one is able to distingish the differences moist and dry air.

Tropical Cyclones
GIBBS can be an excellent rescourse for tropical cyclone imagery, because of the simplicity of finding an image of almost any tropical cyclone since the 1980's, at almost any point in its lifetime.