PREFIRE_SAT1_2B-SFC_COG19um: Polar Surface Emissivity at 18.2 µm

Polar regions are the focus of this dataset, which provides surface emissivity values retrieved from the PREFIRE CubeSat mission's Thermal Infrared Spectrometer. Data are processed into Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF images with a nominal spatial resolution of 2.23 km, representing mean values for clear-sky conditions from a specific spectral channel centered at approximately 18.2 µm. This information aims to fill knowledge gaps in the far-infrared portion of the Earth's energy budget, particularly for polar emissions.

Use Cases

• Assimilating polar surface emissivity data into global circulation models to improve climate predictions.
• Analyzing far-infrared radiative properties of polar surfaces under clear-sky conditions.
• Visualizing georeferenced surface emissivity patterns in polar regions using GIS software.
• Studying the relationship between spectral radiance and retrieved surface emissivity via an Optimal Estimation method.

Strengths

• Data addresses a specific measurement gap for far-infrared radiation in polar regions, which is explicitly stated as a primary mission goal.
• Provides a visualized, gridded product from raw satellite footprints, with a defined raster element width of approximately 2.23 km.
• Derived from a sophisticated retrieval process using a radiative transfer model with inputs from auxiliary cloud mask and meteorological data.

Limitations

• Surface emissivity values are only available for clear-sky conditions, limiting coverage.
• The gridded visualization product has a much finer nominal resolution (2.23 km) than the actual satellite ground footprints, which are about 80 times larger in area—a potential source of misinterpretation.
• Key metadata such as dataset size, row count, and specific license terms are missing or inconsistent across platforms.

Provenance

Source

NASA Langley Research Center Cloud group (LARC_CLOUD), from the PREFIRE-SAT1 spacecraft.

Collection Method

Retrieved from PREFIRE Spectral Radiance data using an Optimal Estimation method via a radiative transfer model.

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-04-09 23:10:04.810912

Geography

Global, with a focus on polar regions.