NOAA-18 AVHRR: Daily Global Surface Reflectance at 0.05 Degree Resolution

NOAA-18 AVHRR Atmospherically Corrected Surface Reflectance Daily L3 Global 0.05 Deg. CMG is a satellite-derived land surface climate data record produced by NASA's Long-Term Data Record project. The dataset provides daily, atmospherically and BRDF-corrected surface reflectance for three spectral bands, along with quality flags, angular data, and thermal bands. It serves as a fundamental record for connecting data from multiple polar-orbiting satellite missions to study long-term climate change.

Use Cases

• Monitor long-term vegetation health and trends based on derived NDVI and LAI/fPAR thematic products.
• Study land surface radiative properties and albedo changes using atmospherically corrected surface reflectance for bands 1, 2, and 3.
• Analyze angular effects on satellite observations using the provided solar zenith, view zenith, and relative azimuth angles.
• Investigate surface temperature patterns or thermal anomalies using the included thermal bands 3, 4, and 5 data.

Strengths

• Data is part of a critical Long-Term Data Record (LTDR) project designed for studying global climate change.
• Product bridges data from eight distinct AVHRR missions, including NOAA-18, providing continuity.
• Includes multiple derived variables: surface reflectance, quality flags, angular data, and thermal bands.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Generated from GIMMS Advanced Processing System (GAPS) BRDF-corrected Surface Reflectance product (AVH01C1) using mature and well-tested algorithms.

Time Range

Daily product; temporal coverage is not explicitly stated but likely spans the NOAA-18 mission period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 12 23:17:46.026140; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage at 0.05 degree resolution (Climate Modeling Grid).