ASTER L1A: Reconstructed Satellite Instrument Data with Multi-Resolution Bands

NASA's ASTER satellite provides reconstructed, unprocessed instrument data for the Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR), Shortwave Infrared (SWIR), and Thermal Infrared (TIR) telescopes. The Level 1A product includes raw digital numbers and appended calibration coefficients, with spatial resolutions of 15 meters for VNIR, 30 meters for SWIR, and 90 meters for TIR bands. This version, updated in March 2026, incorporates Radiometric Calibration Coefficient Version 5 to improve accuracy.

Use Cases

• Calibrating and processing raw satellite imagery based on the appended radiometric and geometric correction coefficients.
• Analyzing land surface temperature and thermal properties based on the 90-meter Thermal Infrared (TIR) band data.
• Conducting multispectral analysis using the combined 15-meter VNIR and 30-meter SWIR band resolutions.
• Investigating sensor anomalies and data quality, referencing the known issues with SWIR striping post-April 2008.

Strengths

• Data includes three distinct telescope streams (VNIR, SWIR, TIR) with specified spatial resolutions of 15m, 30m, and 90m.
• Version 4 applies an updated Radiometric Calibration Coefficient (RCC V5) to improve raw DN accuracy.
• Known data quality issues, such as SWIR striping, are explicitly documented for user awareness.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• SWIR data acquired after April 2008 may exhibit anomalous saturation and striping, requiring user caution.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Acquired from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite instrument.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 09:30:45.111201; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits.