PREFIRE Satellite 2: Calibrated Infrared Radiance for Polar Energy Budget

Global satellite data, with concentrated coverage over polar regions, provides calibrated spectral radiance measurements. The dataset originates from the PREFIRE-SAT2 CubeSat, which carries a Thermal Infrared Spectrometer with 63 channels measuring radiation from approximately 5 to 53 µm. Its primary purpose is to fill knowledge gaps in the Earth's energy budget by characterizing far-infrared emissions from the poles for assimilation into climate models.

Use Cases

• Calibrating geolocated radiance products based on raw instrument counts.
• Analyzing spectral signatures of polar atmospheric emissions across 63 infrared channels.
• Assimilating far-infrared radiation data into global climate and energy budget models.
• Validating satellite instrument performance using internal blackbody and space-look calibration.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution spectral data with 63 distinct infrared channels.
• Features a high temporal resolution of 0.707 seconds per measurement.
• Represents a novel, large-scale measurement of far-infrared polar emissions, addressing a known data gap.

Limitations

• Data is not geolocated, making it unsuitable for direct scientific study without further processing.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• The dataset is an intermediate product, requiring the Level 1B geolocated dataset for most applications.

Provenance

Source

NASA/LARC_CLOUD, from the PREFIRE-SAT2 CubeSat.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIRS-PREFIRE) push broom spectrometer.

Time Range

Science data retrieval started on June 29, 2024, and is ongoing.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to two sources.

Geography

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