Global Monthly Broadband Emissivity Climatology at 5km Resolution

NASA's MEaSUREs program provides a global monthly broadband emissivity climatology product derived from combined ASTER and MODIS satellite data. The dataset offers a 0.05-degree (~5 km) resolution mean emissivity calculated from observations spanning 19 years, from 2003 through 2021. It was produced by LPCLOUD under the NASA MEaSUREs initiative.

Use Cases

• Modeling land surface temperature by integrating the broadband emissivity climatology variable with thermal infrared data.
• Analyzing seasonal surface property changes using the monthly climatology values for each calendar month.
• Assessing data reliability for specific regions by referencing the CAMEL quality flag and sample count variable.
• Studying snow-covered area influence on emissivity via the integrated MODIS-derived snow fraction variable.

Strengths

• 19-year temporal coverage from 2003 to 2021 provides a stable climatological baseline.
• 0.05-degree spatial resolution (~5 km) offers global coverage at a moderate scale.
• Product integrates data from two established satellite instruments, ASTER and MODIS.

Limitations

• Represents a monthly climatology mean, not daily or sub-monthly time series data.
• Spatial resolution of 5 km may be too coarse for local-scale or urban heat island studies.
• Data freshness is limited as the product ends in 2021 and is a static climatology.

Provenance

Source

NASA MEaSUREs program, combining ASTER and MODIS satellite data.

Collection Method

Derived from the Version 3 CAMEL Emissivity product (CAM5K30EM), representing the mean broadband emissivity over 19 years.

Time Range

2003-01-01 to 2021-12-31

Freshness

Static climatology product; last observation year is 2021.

Geography

Global land coverage.