ECOSTRESS Global Cloud Mask for Land Surface Temperature Correction

ECOSTRESS Swath Cloud Mask Instantaneous L2 Global 70 m V002 is a Level 2 data product from NASA's ECOSTRESS mission on the International Space Station. It provides a cloud mask derived via a single-channel Bayesian threshold method to determine cloud cover for land surface temperature and evapotranspiration estimation. The data is collected globally between 52° N and 52° S latitudes.

Use Cases

• Filtering cloud-contaminated pixels from the Brightness temperature LUT test layer to improve land surface temperature accuracy.
• Using the Final cloud mask layer to calculate cloud cover statistics for regional evapotranspiration models.
• Analyzing cloud mask bit fields to classify pixel states for downstream thermal radiometry applications.
• Georeferencing cloud mask data with the required ECO_L1B_GEO product for spatial analysis of cloud patterns.

Strengths

• Provides two specific data layers: Brightness temperature LUT test and Final cloud mask.
• Global coverage between 52° North and 52° South latitudes.
• Data has undergone reprocessing for known anomalies, such as the striping issue in February 2020.

Limitations

• Contains documented data acquisition gaps, including a switch to 3-band mode from May 2019 to April 2023 where some bands contain fill values.
• Some scenes may be affected by solar array obstructions from the International Space Station.
• Requires the separate ECO_L1B_GEO data product for georeferencing, adding complexity.

Provenance

Source

NASA ECOSTRESS mission, LPCLOUD.

Collection Method

Derived from ECOSTRESS instrument measurements on the ISS using a single-channel Bayesian cloud threshold with a look-up-table approach.

Time Range

Data acquisition began after launch on June 29, 2018.

Freshness

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Geography

Global coverage between 52° N and 52° S latitudes.