SAFARI 2000 Multi-Angle Radiance Data for Satellite Calibration

Southern African sites in Botswana and South Africa were measured by the JPL PARABOLA III instrument during the SAFARI 2000 Dry Season Aircraft Campaign from August 25 to October 2, 2000. The dataset provides multi-angle sky and ground radiance measurements across eight spectral channels on a 5-degree spherical grid, collected to support the vicarious calibration of the Terra satellite's MISR instrument. Data files contain radiance counts for 8 bands per 3-minute collection, with auxiliary files for dark current and site-specific information.

Use Cases

• Vicarious calibration of the MISR sensor by comparing ground-based radiance counts in the 444, 551, 650, and 860 nm channels with satellite observations.
• Modeling atmospheric anisotropy and reflectance using multi-angle measurements from the zenith-to-nadir and azimuthal planes.
• Analyzing spectral signatures of salt pan (Sua Pan) and savanna (Skukuza) surfaces across eight bands from 444 to 1650 nm.
• Processing raw radiance counts to physical units using the provided second-order polynomial fit coefficients and dark current offsets.

Strengths

• Provides high angular resolution measurements on a 5-degree spherical grid for both upwelling and downwelling hemispheres.
• Includes eight specific spectral channels (444, 551, 581, 650, 860, 944, 1028, and 1650 nm), with four directly matching the MISR sensor.
• Data collection was timed to cloud-free days of Terra satellite overpasses, ensuring relevance for calibration.

Limitations

• Row count, total size, and specific column names are not provided by any source platform.
• Conflicting last updated dates: DataGov lists 2026-03 12 (likely a metadata update), while NASA Earthdata lists the collection end date of 2000-10-02.

Provenance

Source

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Field measurements collected by the Portable Apparatus for Rapid Acquisition of Bidirectional Observation of the Land and Atmosphere (PARABOLA III) sphere-scanning radiometer.

Time Range

2000-08-25 to 2000-10-02

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:18:10.176941

Geography

Sua Pan salt playa, Magkadigkadi region, Botswana; Skukuza tower site, Kruger National Park, South Africa