ASTER L1B: Registered Radiance at the Sensor

ASTER L1B Version 3 provides radiometrically calibrated and geometrically co-registered radiance data from the Terra satellite's ASTER instrument. The product has variable spatial resolutions: 15 meters for Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) bands, 30 meters for Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) bands, and 90 meters for Thermal Infrared (TIR) bands. This version was decommissioned on December 15, 2025, with users directed to the newer AST_L1B Version 4.

Use Cases

• Land surface temperature mapping based on Thermal Infrared (TIR) band radiance.
• Geological and mineralogical studies using co-registered Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) and VNIR spectral signatures.
• Vegetation and ecosystem monitoring leveraging the 15-meter resolution Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) bands.
• Change detection and time-series analysis of radiance data, accounting for known acquisition gaps.

Strengths

• Data is radiometrically calibrated and includes intra- and inter-telescope geometric co-registration corrections.
• Provides multi-resolution data with specific spatial detail: 15m (VNIR), 30m (SWIR), and 90m (TIR).
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata signals its importance and official provenance.

Limitations

• The dataset is deprecated (decommissioned December 15, 2025), directing users to a newer version.
• Contains significant known data gaps: VNIR acquisitions paused from November 28, 2024, to January 18, 2025, and TIR acquisitions paused from November 28, 2024, to April 15, 2025.
• TIR band acquisitions ended permanently on January 16, 2026, and SWIR data from April 2008 onward exhibits anomalous saturation and striping.
• Metadata completeness is low, with no column names, row counts, or file sizes provided.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the Terra spacecraft's ASTER instrument.

Time Range

Coverage spans from the ASTER mission start through instrument-specific end dates (TIR ended January 16, 2026).

Freshness

Last updated March 13, 2026, on Data.gov, but the product itself was decommissioned in December 2025.

Geography

Global coverage from the Terra satellite's orbit.