MISR Level 2 Aerosol Parameters V003: Satellite-Based Atmospheric Particle Data

MIL2ASAE_3 is the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Level 2 Aerosol parameters Version 3 product from NASA. It contains retrieved aerosol column amounts, particle properties, and ancillary information based on geolocated radiances observed by MISR's nine cameras across four wavelengths. The entire mission has been reprocessed to version 3, which includes significant algorithm changes impacting aerosol and land surface retrieval quality.

Use Cases

• Monitor monthly and seasonal trends in atmospheric aerosol amounts and types based on retrieved aerosol column data.
• Distinguish between natural and anthropogenic aerosol sources based on retrieved particle property information.
• Analyze cloud amounts, types, and heights based on ancillary observational data.
• Study land surface cover and vegetation canopy structure distribution based on the reprocessed land surface retrievals.

Strengths

• Data collection is ongoing, providing a continuous time series.
• Reprocessed to version 3 with significant algorithm changes, which likely impacts data quality.
• Observed by nine cameras across four wavelengths (blue, green, red, near-infrared), providing multi-angle spectral information.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Based on Level 1B2 geolocated radiances observed by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument.

Time Range

Data collection is ongoing; specific temporal coverage is not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:13:43.003409; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global, as the instrument flies overhead imaging Earth's surface.