GSESA: Global Monthly Infrared Surface Emissivity Atlas from IASI Satellites

The Global Surface Emissivity Spectral Atlas (GSESA) contains monthly climatology infrared emissivity data in 0.25 x 0.25 degree latitude-longitude resolution. It was developed using the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instruments on METOP-A, METOP-B, and METOP-C satellites from July 2007 to January 2025. These data were created with funding from NASA's Internal Scientist Funding Model for the National Airborne Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST-I).

Use Cases

• Retrieving atmospheric thermodynamic parameters based on the inversion scheme described.
• Analyzing cloud microphysical parameters based on the retrieval method for cloudy radiances.
• Producing spectral emissivity at specific locations based on the provided EOF eigenvector files.
• Evaluating surface radiative properties based on the global monthly climatology emissivity scores.
• Developing or validating climate models based on the long-term satellite-derived emissivity data.

Strengths

• Global coverage with a spatial resolution of 0.25 x 0.25 degrees.
• Long temporal coverage spanning from July 2007 to January 2025.
• Data derived from multiple satellite instruments (METOP-A, METOP-B, METOP-C).
• Includes reader files for both Fortran and Matlab environments.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data are provided in binary format, which may require specialized software or tools to read.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Developed using an inversion scheme applied to the IASI instrument on METOP satellites.

Time Range

2007-07-01 to 2025-01-31

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:49:52.498491; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global