40 years of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Level-1B and Level-1C satellite imagery at 1.1 km resolution, covering Europe, parts of Africa, and global land areas from the 1990s 1-KM project. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the University of Bern processed the data, which spans from January 1, 1981, to December 31, 2020. The collection includes calibrated reflectances and brightness temperatures from multiple NOAA and Metop satellite sensors.
Use Cases
- Analyze long-term land surface temperature trends using calibrated brightness temperatures from infrared channels 3B, 4, and 5.
- Monitor vegetation health and phenology over Europe from 1981-2020 using time-series reflectances from visible and near-infrared channels 1, 2, and 3A.
- Improve georeferencing accuracy for historical satellite composites using the landmark-based navigation corrections applied to the Level-1C data.
- Study coastal and inland water body dynamics by analyzing the 1.1 km resolution data over land surfaces, inland water, and coastal areas.
- Develop cross-sensor calibration methods by examining satellite-specific infrared calibrations that lack cross-calibration between different NOAA platforms.
Strengths
- 40-year temporal coverage from 1981 to 2020 provides a long-term record for climate studies.
- Data includes calibrated physical measurements: reflectances for visible/near-IR channels and brightness temperatures for infrared channels.
- Georeferencing accuracy was improved using a landmark-based navigation correction software.
Limitations
- Visible channel calibration relies on coefficients from an external project (CIMSS PATMOS-X) due to a lack of on-board calibration, which may introduce spectral inconsistencies.
- Infrared calibration is satellite-specific without cross-calibration between different satellites, potentially affecting time-series continuity.
- Spatial coverage is not fully global, focusing on Europe, selected African areas, and specific 1990s project land data.
Provenance
- Source
- European Space Agency (ESA), with processing by the Remote Sensing Research Group of the University of Bern, Switzerland.
- Collection Method
- Reprocessed from NOAA POES and Metop AVHRR sensor data acquired at the University of Dundee and University of Bern ground stations and from historical archives.
- Time Range
- 1981-01-01 to 2020-12-31
- Freshness
- Data collection ended on December 31, 2020; it is a historical archive with no ongoing updates.
- Geography
- Europe, neighboring regions, selected areas in Africa, and global land surfaces from the 1990s 1-KM project.