Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

GEO/LEO based cloud property composites for DSCOVR EPIC view, Version 2

Metadata Updated: September 19, 2025

In DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_composite_02, cloud property retrievals from multiple imagers on low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites (including MODIS, VIIRS, and AVHRR) and geostationary (GEO) satellites (including GOES-13 and -15, METEOSAT-7 and -10, MTSAT-2, and Himawari-8) are used to generate the composite. Based on the CERES cloud detection and retrieval system, all cloud properties were determined using a standard set of algorithms, the Satellite ClOud and Radiation Property Retrieval System (SatCORPS). Cloud properties from these LEO/GEO imagers are optimally merged to provide a seamless global composite product at 5-km resolution by using an aggregated rating that considers five parameters (nominal satellite resolution, pixel time relative to the EPIC observation time, viewing zenith angle, distance from day/night terminator, and sun glint factor) and selects the best observation at the time nearest to the EPIC measurements. About 72% of the LEO/GEO satellite overpass times are within one hour of the EPIC measurements, while 92% are within two hours of the EPIC measurements. The global composite data are then remapped into the EPIC FOV by convolving the high-resolution cloud properties with the EPIC point spread function (PSF) defined with a half-pixel accuracy to produce the EPIC composite. PSF-weighted radiances and cloud properties averages are computed separately for each cloud phase. Ancillary data (i.e., surface type, snow and ice map, skin temperature, precipitable water, etc.) needed for anisotropic factor selections are also included in the composite. These composite images are produced for each observation time of the EPIC instrument (typically 300 to 600 composites per month).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 9, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 9, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025
Publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
Maintainer
Identifier 10.5067/EPIC/DSCOVR/L2_COMPOSITE_02
Data Last Modified 2025-09-11
Category Earth Science
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 2d580b8a-27c7-43e0-87a5-4eb1d025bcdf
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"Boundary":{"Points":{"Latitude":-90,"Longitude":-180},{"Latitude":-90,"Longitude":180},{"Latitude":90,"Longitude":180},{"Latitude":90,"Longitude":-180},{"Latitude":-90,"Longitude":-180}}}
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 96152b0d2339fa4d55dd5484dacc6b0718d6304d57e74f24599898aac3d85f52
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial
Temporal 2015-06-13/2015-06-13

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.