MAS Airborne Cloud Data with Optical and Physical Parameters

Global airborne data provides cloud optical and physical parameters derived from multispectral infrared and near-infrared solar reflected radiances. NASA's MODIS Airborne Simulator instrument measured reflectance and brightness temperature across 10 wavelengths from 0.66 to 13.98nm. This dataset is stored in HDF-EOS format and contains Scientific Data Sets for gridded cloud parameters.

Use Cases

• Analyzing cloud thermodynamic phase using derived parameters from infrared radiances.
• Calculating cloud optical thickness and effective radius for liquid water and ice clouds.
• Mapping probability of clear sky or cloud presence from multispectral reflectance imagery.
• Studying cloud-top properties like height and temperature from brightness temperature data.

Strengths

• Derived parameters from 10 specific wavelengths between 0.66 and 13.98nm.
• Contains multiple cloud properties: optical thickness, effective radius, phase, and probability.
• Data is structured within Scientific Data Sets in the standardized HDF-EOS format.

Limitations

• Exact row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown across all sources.
• Conflicting last updated dates: 2026-03 13 on Data.gov versus 2007-08-10 on NASA Earthdata.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Parameters derived from remotely sensed radiances collected by the MODIS Airborne Simulator instrument during campaign flights.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:28:01.850141

Geography

Global (airborne campaign flights)