SeaWiFS Satellite Imagery for Southern Africa from SAFARI 2000

Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) imagery captures the southern African region at 4.5-km resolution. The dataset includes Level-1a swaths selected for clarity and some hazy days for contrast, stored in HDF files with 8 spectral bands from 402 to 885 nm. It was produced by NASA as part of the SAFARI 2000 Project.

Use Cases

• Analyzing ocean color and phytoplankton concentrations using 8 spectral bands.
• Studying atmospheric haze and aerosol optical thickness over land and ocean.
• Comparing surface reflectance under clear and hazy atmospheric conditions.
• Developing or validating algorithms for processing SeaWiFS Level-1a data.
• Investigating regional environmental changes within the 1999-2001 timeframe.

Strengths

• Data was curated for quality, selected from a large collection based on image clarity and lack of clouds.
• Provides spectral data across 8 distinct bands from 402 nm to 885 nm.
• Includes contrasting hazy-day imagery for comparative atmospheric studies.
• Part of the cross-platform, well-documented SAFARI 2000 Project.

Limitations

• Exact row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last updated dates: datagov lists 2026-03 12 (likely a placeholder), while nasa_earthdata lists 2001-03-03.
• Spatial resolution is limited to the 4.5-km Global Area Coverage (GAC), not the higher 1.1-km Local Area Coverage.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), ORNL DAAC.

Collection Method

Collected by the SeaWiFS satellite sensor, launched in late 1997, and processed to Level-1a swaths.

Time Range

1999-2001

Freshness

2001-03-03 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Southern African region.