DSCOVR EPIC L2 MAIAC: Global Atmospheric, Land, and Ocean Data

Ongoing data collection from the DSCOVR EPIC instrument provides Level 2 MAIAC Version 02 products at a 1 to 2-hour temporal frequency. This interdisciplinary suite includes atmospheric parameters like aerosol optical depth and cloud mask, land surface reflectance and BRDF, and ocean water-leaving reflectance, distributed on a 10 km rotated sinusoidal grid. The dataset also offers gap-filled global composites for NDVI over land and water-leaving reflectance over ocean, weighted towards local noon and low aerosol conditions.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global aerosol transport and composition based on aerosol optical depth, fine mode fraction, and spectral absorption parameters.
• Analyzing land surface vegetation health and albedo using atmospherically corrected bidirectional reflectance factors (BRF) and NDVI composites.
• Studying ocean color and phytoplankton dynamics from water-leaving reflectance in UV-Vis bands.
• Validating climate and atmospheric models with cloud mask and aerosol layer height data.
• Investigating surface anisotropy and BRDF effects for the backscattering view geometries of the EPIC instrument.

Strengths

• Provides a multi-domain interdisciplinary suite covering atmosphere, land, and ocean from a single sensor.
• Offers high temporal frequency observations (1-2 hours) from the unique Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point vantage of DSCOVR.
• Includes advanced composite products (NDVI, water-leaving reflectance) with gap-filling and weighting for optimal observation conditions.

Limitations

• Spatial resolution is limited to a 10 km grid, which may not be suitable for local-scale studies.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms provided.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC).

Time Range

Ongoing collection; specific start date not provided.

Freshness

Last updated metadata date is 2026-04 10, indicating active maintenance.

Geography

Global coverage.