MISR: Multi-Angle Cloud Top Height and Optical Depth

Nine cameras on NASA's MISR instrument view each Earth location from different angles over seven minutes, enabling 3D cloud structure analysis. The data provides global coverage every nine days across four spectral bands centered at 443, 555, 670, and 865 nanometers. It is designed to monitor long-term trends in atmospheric aerosols, cloud types and heights, and land surface cover.

Use Cases

• Mapping cloud top height globally based on multi-angle stereo imaging.
• Calculating cloud optical depth to understand sunlight interaction with the atmosphere.
• Tracking monthly and seasonal trends in aerosol types from natural and human sources.
• Analyzing vegetation canopy structure through multi-angle reflectance data.

Strengths

• Provides data from nine distinct view angles (0, 26.1, 45.6, 60.0, and 70.5 degrees), enabling 3D atmospheric retrievals.
• Achieves global coverage with a revisit time of nine days, supporting time-series analysis.
• Collects radiance in four specific spectral bands (443, 555, 670, 865 nm) relevant for atmospheric and surface studies.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are not provided in the available metadata.
• Sources conflict on the dataset's identity, with titles and descriptions referring to both Level 1A calibration and Level 3 annual cloud products.
• Key metadata such as data volume, row count, and author are consistently missing across platforms.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on the Terra satellite.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via nine push-broom cameras measuring radiance.

Time Range

Annual coverage (for Level 3 product); specific years not stated.

Freshness

2026-04-10 00:44:15.753303

Geography

Global