MASTER: Airborne Multispectral Imagery for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

From July 31 to September 1, 2010, the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument collected data during 9 NASA ER-2 flights over the Gulf of America and parts of 14 U.S. states. The dataset provides Level 1B georeferenced multispectral imagery of calibrated radiance in 50 bands (0.460 to 12.879 µm) at ~50-meter resolution, plus Level 2 derived products including land surface temperature and emissivity in 5 thermal infrared bands. A primary purpose was to map the Deepwater Horizon-BP oil spill.

Use Cases

• Mapping oil spill extent and thermal properties based on multispectral and thermal infrared imagery.
• Analyzing land surface temperature and emissivity variations across diverse terrains covered by the flight paths.
• Calibrating or validating satellite-derived surface temperature and radiance products using the high-resolution airborne data.
• Studying coastal and inland environmental changes using georeferenced imagery from California to Florida.

Strengths

• Contains calibrated Level 1B radiance data across 50 spectral bands, providing detailed spectral information.
• Includes derived Level 2 products (emissivity, land surface temperature) and ancillary flight information (paths, configuration, notes).
• Covers a specific, significant environmental event (Deepwater Horizon oil spill) with data collected shortly after the incident.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row/size counts are unspecified across all sources, limiting precise understanding of data structure.
• License information is conflicting or unclear ('other-license-specified' vs. 'None' reported on different platforms).
• Last update metadata conflicts between 2010-09-01 (nasa_earthdata) and 2026-04-10 (datagov), suggesting potential metadata freshness issues.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected via the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft during 9 flights.

Time Range

2010-07-31 to 2010-09-01

Freshness

2026-04-10 01:20:02.103061 (datagov)

Geography

Gulf of America and portions of California, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida.