Aqua MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity at 1km Resolution

MODIS/Aqua MYD21 provides daily land surface temperature and 3-band emissivity data in five-minute temporal increments. The product is generated by the LANCEMODIS organization using an algorithm based on the ASTER Temperature/Emissivity Separation technique. Data is collected at a nadir resolution of 1,000 meters with a swath width of approximately 2,030 by 1,354 pixels.

Use Cases

• Modeling urban heat island effects using land surface temperature data at 1km resolution.
• Estimating surface energy fluxes by combining land surface temperature with 3-band emissivity values.
• Monitoring daily and sub-daily land surface temperature changes from five-minute acquisition increments.
• Validating climate models with satellite-derived temperature and emissivity data from the ASTER TES-based algorithm.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of surface thermal properties across the MODIS/Aqua swath of 2,030 by 1,354 pixels.

Strengths

• Daily production with five-minute temporal granularity for high-frequency analysis.
• Nadir spatial resolution of 1,000 meters providing detailed surface observations.
• Algorithm based on the ASTER Temperature/Emissivity Separation technique, differing from split-window methods.
• Version 6.1 includes calibration improvements for reflectance and infrared bands.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and temporal coverage range are not provided.
• Data quality may be affected by cloud cover and atmospheric conditions inherent to optical remote sensing.
• The 1km resolution may be insufficient for studying fine-scale surface features.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata via the MODIS/Aqua sensor.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data processed to Level-2 land surface temperature and emissivity.

Freshness

Produced daily in near-real-time (NRT).

Geography

Global coverage from the Aqua satellite's orbit.