Terra MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity at 1km Resolution

5-minute temporal increments of daily land surface temperature and 3-band emissivity data are produced from the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite. The algorithm is based on the ASTER Temperature/Emissivity Separation technique, differing from the split-window method used in other MODIS products. The data is provided by the LANCEMODIS organization.

Use Cases

• Modeling urban heat island effects by analyzing land surface temperature variations across a city's 1km pixels.
• Monitoring diurnal land surface temperature cycles using the 5-minute acquisition increments.
• Improving surface energy balance estimates by combining land surface temperature with the 3-band emissivity data.
• Assessing thermal anomalies for wildfire risk or volcanic activity monitoring from temperature deviations in the swath data.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution with data produced in 5-minute increments of satellite acquisition.
• Swath dimensions of approximately 2,030 pixels along track and 1,354 pixels per line provide wide spatial coverage.
• Algorithm uses the ASTER TES technique, a distinct methodology from other MODIS LST products.

Limitations

• Spatial resolution is 1km at nadir, which may be too coarse for studies requiring fine-scale feature analysis.
• Specific row count, file size, and temporal coverage range are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Terra satellite MODIS instrument, processed by LANCEMODIS.

Collection Method

Derived from MODIS Level-1B data using the MOD21 algorithm based on the ASTER Temperature/Emissivity Separation technique.

Freshness

Produced daily as a Near Real-Time (NRT) product.

Geography

Global coverage from the MODIS instrument swath.