SAFARI 2000 MISR Satellite Imagery for Southern African Dry Season

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) data captures calibrated, multi-spectral images of southern Africa from nine view angles. This dataset was collected during the SAFARI 2000 field campaign to study atmospheric particles and land surface properties from biomass burning and other sources. The instrument, built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, operates aboard the Terra spacecraft launched in 1999.

Use Cases

• Distinguishing aerosol types and cloud forms using calibrated brightness and contrast data from nine different angles.
• Constructing 3D models of atmospheric and land surface features via stereoscopic techniques applied to the multi-angle imagery.
• Estimating total sunlight reflected by diverse southern African environments to improve climate models.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal patterns of smoke and gases from industrial and biomass burning sources across nine countries.

Strengths

• Data is carefully calibrated for accurate measures of brightness, contrast, and color of reflected sunlight.
• Provides high spatial detail in four spectral colors at each of nine distinct view angles.
• Covers a specific, coordinated field campaign (SAFARI 2000) across nine southern African nations.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, reporting either 2000-09-28 or 2026-03 12.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' or 'None', requiring further clarification.

Provenance

Source

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, part of the Terra spacecraft mission.

Collection Method

Satellite imagery collected by the MISR instrument from polar orbit.

Time Range

August 12 through September 28, 2000.

Freshness

2026-03-12 21:47:52.461654

Geography

Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.