PREFIRE: Polar Outgoing Longwave Radiation from CubeSat Spectrometer

63 spectral channels measure mid- and far-infrared radiation from approximately 5 to 53 µm, a range where most polar emissions occur. The dataset provides derived outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) values rendered as Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs with a grid resolution of approximately 2.23 km. These data aim to fill knowledge gaps in the global energy budget by characterizing polar emissions for assimilation into climate and circulation models.

Use Cases

• Assimilating polar radiative flux into global circulation models based on the derived OLR values.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of Earth's energy budget in polar regions using georeferenced raster imagery.
• Studying spectral signatures of far-infrared radiation from 5-53 µm using the 63-channel spectrometer data.
• Visualizing and mapping polar outgoing longwave radiation using Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs in GIS software like QGIS.

Strengths

• Provides first-of-its-kind large-scale measurements of far-infrared radiation (5-53 µm) from the polar regions.
• Data is derived from a sophisticated processing chain incorporating spectral radiance, cloud masks, and auxiliary meteorological and satellite data.
• Raster data is provided in a modern, accessible Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) format suitable for GIS applications.

Limitations

• The individual satellite ground footprints are approximately 80 times larger in area than the 2.23 km raster elements used for visualization, which may misrepresent spatial precision.
• Key metadata such as exact row count, file size, and specific license terms are not provided across the available sources.
• Geographic coverage is currently limited to latitudes between approximately 60° and 84° in both hemispheres.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Data collected by the PREFIRE Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIRS-PREFIRE) aboard the PREFIRE-SAT1 CubeSat.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to datagov; science data retrieval is ongoing as of July 24, 2024.

Geography

Polar regions, specifically latitudes between approximately 60° to 84° in both hemispheres.