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Description

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Surface Emissivity (AST_05) is produced using the Temperature/Emissivity Separation (TES) algorithm for the five Thermal Infrared (TIR) 90 meter bands, acquired during the day or night. The product comprises per-pixel emissivity measurements generated over land in addition to embedded metadata and quality assurance data planes.

Known Issues

  • Level 2 products that are on the international date line/anti-meridian have incorrect bounding coordinates for the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) zone defined in the file metadata.

Improvements/Changes from Previous Versions

  • Enhanced Atmospheric Correction: Version 4 uses Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 (MERRA-2) data as the primary source for atmospheric parameters (ozone, water vapor, pressure, and temperature), improving the precision of emissivity calculations. Fallback Mechanisms: When MERRA-2 data are unavailable, the product employs Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) data as a backup, with climatology data serving as a final fallback to ensure continuous processing. Radiometric Calibration Update: Version 4 applies Radiometric Calibration Coefficient Version 5 (RCC V5) to improve the radiometric accuracy of the raw DNs, based on research by Tsuchida and others (2020), published in Remote Sensing.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
Instruments
ASTER
Spatial Extent
N: 83 S: -83 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
90 Meters x 90 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
GEODETIC
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-03-04 to Present
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
Ground Data System, Japan Space Systems, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Japan (JP/METI/AIST/JSS/GDS)
Concept ID
C3306858335-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Emissivity

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. (2025). ASTER L2 Surface Emissivity V004 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/AST_05.004 Date Accessed: 2025-11-02

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
Mapping Sandy Land Using the New Sand Differential Emissivity Index From Thermal Infrared Emissivity Data Chen, S. S.
A four-parameter model for estimating diurnal temperature cycle from MODIS land surface temperature product Lu, L.
Warm arctic proglacial lakes in the ASTER surface temperature product Dye, A.
Emissivity of agricultural soil attributes in southeastern Brazil via terrestrial and satellite sensors Salazar, D. F. U.
Volcanic anomalies monitoring system (VOLCANOMS), a low-cost volcanic monitoring system based on Landsat images Layana, S.
Comparison of emissivity retrieval methods from ASTER data using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Rolim, S. B. A.
First comparisons of surface temperature estimations between ECOSTRESS, ASTER and landsat 8 over Italian volcanic and geothermal areas Silvestri, M.
Evaluation of an ASTER emissivity product with field spectral radiance measurements for natural surfaces Tang, B.
Mapping hydrothermally altered minerals with AST_07XT, AST_05 and Hyperion datasets using a voting-based extreme learning machine algorithm Hu, B.
Automated regolith landform mapping using airborne geophysics and remote sensing data, Burkina Faso, West Africa Metelka, V.
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Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
TIR_Band10 90 meter resolution TIR Band 10 (8.125 to 8.475 µm) N/A uint16 N/A N/A to 65535 0.001
TIR_Band11 90 meter resolution TIR Band 11 (8.475 to 8.825 µm) N/A uint16 N/A N/A to 65535 0.001
TIR_Band12 90 meter resolution TIR Band 12 (8.925 to 9.275 µm) N/A uint16 N/A N/A to 65535 0.001
TIR_Band13 90 meter resolution TIR Band 13 (10.25 to 10.95 µm) N/A uint16 N/A N/A to 65535 0.001
TIR_Band14 90 meter resolution TIR Band 14 (10.95 to 11.65 µm) N/A uint16 N/A N/A to 65535 0.001
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