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MISR Level 2 Surface parameters V002

Metadata Updated: September 19, 2025

MIL2ASLS_2 is the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Level 2 Land Surface parameters version 2 data product. It contains a variety of information on the Earth's surface; such ashemispherical directional reflectance factor (HDRF), bihemispherical reflectance (BHR) (i.e., albedo), bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF), directional hemispherical reflectance (DHR), BRF model parameters, Fractional absorbed Photosysenthetically Active Radiation (FPAR), and terrain-referenced view and illumination angles. A surface retrieval is conducted on regions for which valid land aerosol retrieval exists. The retrieval is performed using the corrected equivalent reflectances, retrieved aerosol parameters, and auxiliary information from the Simulated MISR Ancillary Radiative Transfer (SMART) dataset. The spectral and Photosynthetically Active spectral Region (PAR)-integrated BHR and DHR are retrieved, along with the spectral land HDRF and BRF and BRF model parameters, for all valid land and inland water subregions. Subregion surface classification, leaf area index (LAI), and regional FPAR are also determined. Subregion variability is also calculated for land regions. Data collection for this product was completed in June 2017.The entire mission has been reprocessed to version 3. The revision to the aerosol and land surface products includes both product format and significant algorithm changes, which impact the quality and performance of both aerosol and land surface retrievals.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 forward, and four 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 designed to view Earth with cameras in 9 different directions. As the instrument flies overhead, all nine cameras successfully imaged each piece of Earth's surface below in 4 wavelengths (blue, green, red, and near-infrared). MISR aims to improve our understanding of the effects of sunlight on Earth and 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.

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/TERRA/MISR/MIL2ASLS_L2.002
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 b513d82a-73b9-4173-86d4-c4866fdf7b03
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/citing-data
Old Spatial {"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"NorthBoundingCoordinate":90,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-90},"CARTESIAN"
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash f32b7fda41e02bbd990e90ef5a982ed6628f704d3055aff50e54f66e2bcaa529
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial
Temporal 1999-12-18/1999-12-18

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