Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Return to search results
💡 Advanced Search Tip

Search by organization or tag to find related datasets

MISR Level 3 FIRSTLOOK Global Albedo product in netCDF format covering a day V002

Published by NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Metadata Last Checked: September 14, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-09-11
MI3DALNF_002 is the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Level 3 FIRSTLOOK Global Albedo product in netCDF format covering a day version 2. It is a global summary of the Level 2 albedo parameters of interest averaged over a day and reported on a geographic grid; it has multiple data layers with varying temporal resolutions of 1 degree by 1 degree and 5 degrees by 5 degrees. Data collection for this product is ongoing. FIRSTLOOK processing uses the new time dependence of the Atmospheric and Surface Climatology (TASC) from the same month/previous year. The TASC data set now contains snow-ice and ocean surface wind speed values that are updated on a monthly basis. Therefore, these data sets cannot be generated until the end of the month. Products generated are distinguished by the presence of FIRSTLOOK in the file names. The MISR instrument consists of nine push-broom cameras that measure radiance in four spectral bands. Global coverage is achieved in nine days. The cameras are arranged with one camera pointing toward the nadir, four cameras pointing forward, and four cameras pointing aftward. It takes seven minutes for all nine cameras to view the same surface location. The view angles relative to the surface reference ellipsoid are 0, 26.1, 45.6, 60.0, and 70.5 degrees. The spectral band shapes are nominally Gaussian, centered at 443, 555, 670, and 865 nm. MISR is an instrument designed to view Earth with cameras pointed in 9 different directions. As the instrument flies overhead, each piece of Earth's surface below is successfully imaged by all nine cameras in 4 wavelengths (blue, green, red, and near-infrared). The goal of MISR is to improve our understanding of the effects of sunlight on Earth, as well as distinguish different types of clouds, particles, and surfaces. Specifically, MISR monitors the monthly, seasonal, and long-term trends in three areas: 1) amount and type of atmospheric particles (aerosols), including those formed by natural sources and by human activities; 2) amounts, types, and heights of clouds, and 3) distribution of land surface cover, including vegetation canopy structure.MISR Level 3 FIRSTLOOK Component Global Albedo is a publicly available product in netCDF format that covers a day.

Complete Metadata

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov