MASTER Airborne Multispectral Imagery of Western US

Eighteen flights of the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument collected calibrated radiance data across seven western U.S. states in September and October 1999. The dataset provides Level 1B georeferenced multispectral imagery across 50 spectral bands, from visible to thermal infrared wavelengths, at approximately 20-meter spatial resolution. It is managed by the ORNL_CLOUD organization and includes ancillary flight path and instrument configuration data.

Use Cases

• Land cover classification and change detection using 50-band multispectral imagery.
• Validation of satellite-derived surface temperature and emissivity models with coincident thermal infrared bands.
• Atmospheric correction algorithm development leveraging calibrated radiance measurements across visible and infrared wavelengths.
• Geological mapping of mineral signatures using specific spectral band combinations.
• Flight path analysis for airborne campaign planning and data geolocation verification.

Strengths

• Contains data from 18 distinct flights, providing multiple observational samples.
• Covers a wide spectral range from 0.460 to 12.879 micrometers across 50 calibrated bands.
• Offers high spatial resolution of approximately 20 meters for detailed surface analysis.
• Includes ancillary metadata such as flight paths and instrument configuration for context.

Limitations

• Exact file size and row/record counts are not specified across any platform.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (1999-10 06 vs. 2026-03-13), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.
• Primary data is in HDF-4 format, which may require specialized software for access and analysis.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD organization, data collected by the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument aboard a DOE B-200 aircraft.

Collection Method

Airborne remote sensing during 18 scientific flights.

Time Range

1999-09-13 to 1999-10-06

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:00:19.321824

Geography

California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, Colorado, and Texas, U.S.