CAMEL Uncertainty Climatology: Monthly Global Land Emissivity Variability

NASA's CAMEL data suite includes a monthly global uncertainty climatology product for land emissivity at 0.05 degree resolution. The CAM5K30UCCLIM product averages data from 2003 through 2021, providing three independent components of variability: temporal, spatial, and algorithm. Each measure of uncertainty climatology is provided for all 13 hinge points of emissivity and each latitude-longitude point.

Use Cases

• Quantifying uncertainty in land surface temperature models based on emissivity variability components.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of emissivity uncertainty across different land cover types.
• Assessing temporal stability of emissivity measurements over a 19-year period.
• Validating emissivity algorithms by comparing their inherent uncertainty metrics.

Strengths

• Provides three independent uncertainty components (temporal, spatial, algorithm) for comprehensive error analysis.
• Covers a 19-year period (2003-2021), offering a long-term climatological perspective.
• Offers global coverage at a consistent 0.05 degree (~5 kilometer) resolution.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-03-13 03:15:47.955927; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Combined data from ASTER and MODIS satellite instruments, averaged monthly over 19 years.

Time Range

2003 through 2021

Geography

Global