MASTER Airborne Multispectral Data for California Fire Response

MASTER (MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator) Level 1B data products were collected by the U.S. Department of Energy's Remote Sensing Laboratory during four flights over California from August 20-27, 2008. The dataset provides georeferenced, calibrated radiance imagery across 50 spectral bands from visible to thermal infrared wavelengths at approximately 10-meter spatial resolution. Its primary objective was mapping for the California Fire-Burn Area Emergency Response (BAER) program.

Use Cases

• Burn severity mapping using calibrated radiance values across 50 spectral bands.
• Post-fire landscape analysis via georeferenced multispectral imagery at 10-meter resolution.
• Spectral signature validation by comparing airborne MASTER data with satellite sensor readings.
• Flight path analysis for mission planning using included ancillary navigation data.
• Atmospheric correction research leveraging data from visible (0.460 µm) to thermal infrared (12.879 µm) wavelengths.

Strengths

• Contains calibrated radiance data across 50 specific spectral bands, enabling detailed spectral analysis.
• Provides high spatial resolution imagery at approximately 10 meters per pixel for detailed area assessment.
• Includes ancillary data such as flight paths, instrument configuration, and band information for context.
• Data was collected for a specific emergency response objective (BAER), ensuring focused application relevance.

Limitations

• Key structural metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2008-08-27 on NASA Earthdata vs. 2026-03-13 on Data.gov).
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without detailed terms.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Energy's Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) at Nellis Air Force Base, coordinated for NASA.

Collection Method

Data collected by the MASTER instrument aboard a DOE B200 aircraft during four dedicated flights.

Time Range

2008-08-20 to 2008-08-27

Freshness

2026-03 13 00:48:51.085197

Geography

California, U.S.