The purpose of this file specification document is to define the file content and format for the TRMM data products.

The TRMM Science Requirements references intermediate products for the purpose of monitoring instruments and product production, which this document refers to as ”Instrument Analysis Products.” Since this data is not archived at EOSDIS, these formats are not described in this document. The specifications in this document incorporate the results from a series of meetings with EOSDIS for agreements on file structure, and TRMM science team members for file contents. Discussions with other missions that have similar data sets have helped  to form the initial basis for the file specifications. In addition, characteristics from popular formats were incorporated into the file formats (e.g., the Wentz format is used to help develop the TMI file specification).