NASA PREFIRE: Polar Atmospheric Water Vapor from Satellite Imagery

PREFIRE's dual CubeSats carry spectrometers measuring previously unobserved far-infrared radiation from Earth's polar regions to fill knowledge gaps in the global energy budget. This dataset provides cloud-optimized GeoTIFF renderings of retrieved column water vapor values for latitudes between approximately 60° and 84° in both hemispheres. Science data retrieval for this NASA project started on July 24, 2024 and is ongoing.

Use Cases

• Assimilating polar column water vapor data into global circulation models based on the description of the dataset's intended use.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of atmospheric moisture in polar regions based on georeferenced raster data.
• Visualizing satellite-derived climate variables in GIS software like QGIS based on the Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF format.
• Studying the relationship between far-infrared radiation and atmospheric properties in clear-sky conditions.

Strengths

• Data addresses a specific knowledge gap by measuring far-infrared polar emissions on a large scale for the first time.
• Files are in Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF format, which is designed for efficient web-based access and visualization.
• The dataset is part of an active NASA mission with data collection ongoing since July 24, 2024.
• Provides georeferenced data on a global grid with raster elements approximately 2.23 km in width.

Limitations

• Retrieved column water vapor values are only available for clear-sky conditions, limiting coverage.
• The description lacks column-level documentation; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The geographic coverage is currently limited to latitudes between approximately 60° and 84°.

Provenance

Source

NASA PREFIRE Project, data collected by the PREFIRE Thermal Infrared Spectrometer aboard the PREFIRE-SAT1 CubeSat.

Collection Method

Column water vapor values are computed from spectral radiance data using an Optimal Estimation retrieval via a radiative transfer model.

Time Range

Science data retrieval started July 24, 2024 and is ongoing.

Freshness

Data collection is ongoing as of the input description; the last update date is unknown.

Geography

Latitudes between approximately 60° to 84° in both polar regions.