NOAA-18 AVHRR: Daily Global Top-of-Atmosphere Reflectance at 0.05 Degree Resolution

Global satellite data from the NOAA-18 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) mission. The dataset provides daily top-of-atmosphere reflectance values at a 0.05-degree resolution, processed by NASA's Long-Term Data Record (LTDR) project. It includes reflectance for bands 1 and 2, quality flags, solar/view angles, thermal data, and scan time.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global vegetation dynamics based on the derived Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) product.
• Analyzing surface radiative properties and albedo based on top-of-atmosphere reflectance for bands 1 and 2.
• Studying land surface climate trends as part of a long-term data record bridging multiple satellite missions.
• Modeling leaf-area index and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (LAI/fPAR) using the experimental thematic product.

Strengths

• Part of a critical climate data record (CDR) designed for studying global climate change.
• Bridges data from eight distinct AVHRR missions, including NOAA-7 through NOAA-19 and MetOp-B.
• Includes multiple data layers: reflectance, quality flags, angles, thermal bands, and scan time.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file 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).

Time Range

Covers the operational period of the NOAA-18 satellite mission.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 12 23:14:59.993646; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage at 0.05-degree resolution.