MISR Satellite Land and Aerosol Data for the UAE Region

United Arab Emirates satellite data from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument, providing land surface parameters and aerosol climatology. The dataset includes directional reflectance, albedo, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR), and aerosol microphysical properties derived from nine cameras measuring four spectral bands. It is produced by NASA's LARC_CLOUD organization, with conflicting last update dates reported as 2026-03-13 and 2006-09 30.

Use Cases

• Analyzing monthly and seasonal trends in land surface cover and vegetation canopy structure using directional reflectance and FPAR parameters.
• Studying atmospheric aerosol particle properties, including size, single-scattering albedo, and shape, from the aerosol climatology product.
• Monitoring spectral and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) integrated albedos to understand surface energy balance.
• Comparing mixtures of up to three component aerosol types from a list of eight components to MISR observations.
• Investigating terrain-referenced geometric parameters from nine different view angles (0, 26.1, 45.6, 60.0, and 70.5 degrees).

Strengths

• Data is captured from nine cameras at different angles, providing multi-angle observations for surface and atmospheric analysis.
• Spectral measurements are made in four bands (443, 555, 670, and 865 nm) with nominally Gaussian band shapes.
• Global coverage is achieved in a nine-day repeat cycle, enabling trend monitoring.
• Aerosol climatology product is based on component types considering MISR-specific sensitivity to particle size, albedo, and shape.

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates: one source reports 2026-03-13, another reports 2006-09-30, creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Column names, row counts, and dataset size are unknown across all sources.
• Specific license details are unclear, listed only as 'other-license-specified' or 'None'.

Provenance

Source

NASA LARC_CLOUD, from the MISR instrument on the Terra satellite.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing using nine push-broom cameras measuring radiance in four spectral bands.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:46:36.102366

Geography

United Arab Emirates (UAE) region, with instrument capability for global coverage.