MASTER Airborne Multispectral Imagery for Suomi-NPP Validation

Fifty spectral bands of calibrated radiance data were collected by the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument during 11 NASA ER-2 flights. The dataset provides Level 1B georeferenced imagery and derived Level 2 products including land surface temperature and emissivity. These observations were made from May to June 2013 over parts of the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and the eastern Pacific Ocean to validate the Suomi-NPP satellite instrument.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived land surface temperature and emissivity products using the 5-band thermal infrared L2 data.
• Analyzing surface reflectance and radiance across diverse landscapes with 50-band multispectral imagery at ~50m resolution.
• Studying spatial patterns of calibrated radiance from visible to thermal infrared wavelengths (0.460 to 12.879 µm).
• Correlating flight path and instrument configuration metadata with georeferenced imagery for campaign analysis.

Strengths

• Contains 50 discrete spectral bands of calibrated radiance, providing detailed spectral information from visible to thermal infrared wavelengths.
• Includes derived geophysical products (emissivity, land surface temperature) from the raw radiance measurements.
• Data is georeferenced and collected during a dedicated 11-flight airborne campaign for satellite validation.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and total data volume are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 2013-06-01 and another listing 2026-03-13, suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

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

Time Range

2013-05-07 to 2013-06-01

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:47:43.473018

Geography

California, Texas, and Oklahoma, U.S.; Baja California, Mexico; and eastern Pacific Ocean.