MISR Level 2 FIRSTLOOK: Multi-angle Satellite Land Surface and Aerosol Parameters

NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument provides global Earth observation data. The Level 2 FIRSTLOOK product contains directional reflectance, albedo, FPAR, radiation, and terrain-referenced geometric parameters, alongside aerosol optical depth and compositional data. Data collection for this version 2 product is ongoing, with global coverage achieved every nine days.

Use Cases

• Modeling shortwave planetary radiation budget based on aerosol optical depth and surface albedo parameters
• Monitoring vegetation canopy structure and photosynthetic activity based on Leaf Area Index (LAI) and FPAR data
• Analyzing atmospheric particle composition and trends based on aerosol optical depth and model identifiers
• Studying land surface cover distribution and directional reflectance properties from multi-angle imagery

Strengths

• Data is collected by a sophisticated instrument with nine cameras viewing Earth at four spectral bands and nine different angles
• Product includes a wide range of parameters such as spectral/PAR albedo, FPAR, LAI, and aerosol optical depth
• Global coverage is achieved in a nine-day cycle, providing regular temporal sampling

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML projects

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the MISR instrument on a satellite platform, with nine push-broom cameras measuring radiance in four spectral bands.

Time Range

Data collection is ongoing; specific start date is not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:12:38.245828; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global coverage.