MASTER Airborne Multispectral Data for California and Nevada

Seven flights from September 19 to November 24, 2014 collected Level 1B and Level 2 data products over California and Nevada using the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft. The dataset provides calibrated radiance imagery across 50 spectral bands from 0.460 to 12.879 micrometers, along with derived emissivity and land surface temperature products. This campaign was conducted by NASA as part of preparatory activities for the Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) mission.

Use Cases

• Calibrating and validating satellite-derived land surface temperature algorithms using the 5-band thermal infrared emissivity data.
• Analyzing surface radiative properties across diverse landscapes with 50-band multispectral radiance imagery at ~50m resolution.
• Studying spatial patterns of heat flux and energy balance using co-registered land surface temperature and emissivity maps.
• Developing atmospheric correction methods by comparing airborne MASTER radiance with concurrent ground or satellite measurements.

Strengths

• Provides data from 50 spectral bands covering a wide wavelength range from visible to thermal infrared (0.460 to 12.879 µm).
• Includes both primary calibrated radiance (L1B) and derived geophysical products like emissivity and land surface temperature (L2).
• Covers a specific, intensive campaign of seven flights over a two-month period, offering temporal consistency for the region.

Limitations

• Spatial resolution is approximately 50 meters, which may be coarse for studying fine-scale surface features.
• Conflicting last update dates exist between platforms (2014-11 24 vs. 2026-03-13), suggesting potential metadata inconsistencies.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Data collected via the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft during the HyspIRI preparatory airborne campaign.

Time Range

2014-09-19 to 2014-11-24

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:59:03.075092

Geography

California and Nevada, U.S.