MASTER Airborne Multispectral Data for Cloud and Land Surface Interaction

Fifty spectral bands of calibrated radiance imagery were collected by the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument during two NASA ER-2 flights. This dataset supports the Cloud And Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC), providing Level 1B radiance data and derived Level 2 products like land surface temperature and emissivity. The data covers a flight path over five U.S. states from September 20-21, 2007.

Use Cases

• Analyzing calibrated radiance across 50 spectral bands from visible to thermal infrared wavelengths.
• Mapping land surface temperature and emissivity in 5 thermal infrared bands for energy balance studies.
• Investigating cumulus convection impacts using georeferenced imagery collected during the CLASIC campaign.
• Validating satellite-derived land surface parameters with higher spatial resolution (~50m) airborne data.

Strengths

• Contains 50 spectral bands of calibrated radiance data, offering detailed spectral coverage from 0.460 to 12.879 micrometers.
• Provides derived geophysical products, including land surface temperature and 5-band emissivity in the thermal infrared range.
• Data is georeferenced with approximately 50-meter spatial resolution, enabling fine-scale analysis.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on the last updated date: one lists 2007-09-21, while others list 2026-03-13, suggesting potential metadata inconsistencies.
• Key technical details like row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Primary data is in HDF-4 format, which may require specialized software for access and analysis.

Provenance

Source

MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft, collected for the Cloud And Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC).

Collection Method

Airborne remote sensing during two dedicated flights.

Time Range

2007-09 20 to 2007-09-21

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:59:14.995481

Geography

Flights over California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, U.S., focusing on the Southern Great Plains.