PREFIRE: Polar Surface Emissivity from CubeSat Spectrometer

PREFIRE's dual CubeSats carry a 63-channel spectrometer measuring far-infrared radiation from 5 to 53 µm, a spectral range where most polar emissions occur but which has not been measured on a large scale. This dataset provides surface spectral emissivity derived via an Optimal Estimation retrieval, aiming to fill knowledge gaps in the polar radiative budget. Data collection began on July 24, 2024, with global coverage concentrated over the poles.

Use Cases

• Assimilating polar surface emissivity into global circulation models to improve climate predictions.
• Quantifying the polar radiative budget based on far-infrared spectral measurements.
• Validating radiative transfer models using retrieved emissivity from 63 spectrometer channels.
• Studying surface property changes in polar regions using time-series geospatial data.

Strengths

• Provides novel, large-scale measurements in the critical far-infrared spectrum (5-53 µm).
• Derived from a sophisticated retrieval method (Optimal Estimation) using auxiliary meteorology and cloud mask data.
• Features high spatial detail with eight distinct tracks per swath and initial footprint sizes of 11.8 km x 34.8 km.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are unavailable across all platforms.
• The scene footprint and swath sizes are initial estimates and will change as the satellite orbit altitude decreases.
• The license is ambiguously specified as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Surface emissivity derived from PREFIRE Spectral Radiance data using an Optimal Estimation retrieval via a radiative transfer model.

Time Range

From July 24, 2024 onward (ongoing mission).

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04 09 23:10:26.244467 according to two platforms.

Geography

Global, with the greatest concentration of data in the polar regions.