ASTER Surface Kinetic Temperature at 90-Meter Resolution

ASTER L2 Surface Kinetic Temperature V004 provides surface kinetic temperature data derived from five Thermal Infrared bands. The product is generated by NASA's LPCLOUD using the Temperature/Emissivity Separation algorithm on ASTER radiance data, with acquisitions ending on January 16, 2026. Version 4 integrates MERRA-2 data for improved atmospheric correction.

Use Cases

• Modeling urban heat island effects using surface kinetic temperature values from daytime and nighttime observations.
• Analyzing temporal temperature trends by processing the time-series of ASTER TIR band (10-14) radiance data.
• Validating climate models with spatially explicit temperature data at a 90-meter resolution.
• Applying the Temperature/Emissivity Separation algorithm outputs to study land cover and emissivity relationships.

Strengths

• Data has a spatial resolution of 90 meters for the Thermal Infrared bands.
• Atmospheric correction was enhanced in V004 by integrating MERRA-2 data.
• Includes both daytime and nighttime observation data.

Limitations

• Data acquisition permanently ended on January 16, 2026, limiting temporal coverage for future studies.
• Known metadata issue: files on the international date line have incorrect bounding coordinates for the defined UTM zone.

Provenance

Source

NASA LPCLOUD, derived from the Terra ASTER instrument.

Collection Method

Produced using the Temperature/Emissivity Separation algorithm on atmospherically corrected ASTER surface radiance data.

Time Range

Coverage spans from mission start until January 16, 2026.

Freshness

Final data acquisition occurred on 2026-01-16; product is a static archive.

Geography

Global coverage from the Terra satellite's orbit.