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Description

The AST_L1B Version 3 data product was decommissioned on December 15, 2025. Users are encouraged to use the AST_LB1 Version 4 of this product

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Level 1B (AST_L1B) Registered Radiance at the Sensor data product is radiometrically calibrated and geometrically co-registered. Application of intra-telescope and inter-telescope registration corrections for all bands are relative to the reference band for each telescope: Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) Band 2, Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) Band 6, and Thermal Infrared (TIR) Band 11. The AST_L1B product has a spatial resolution of 15 meters (m) for the VNIR bands, 30 m for the SWIR bands, and 90 m for the TIR bands.

The ASTER L1B Registered Radiance at the Sensor data product is only available through NASA's Earthdata Search. The ASTER Order Instructions provide step-by-step directions for ordering this product.

Known Issues

  • Users are advised that ASTER SWIR data acquired from April 2008 to the present exhibit anomalous saturation of values and anomalous striping. This effect is also present for some prior acquisition periods. Please refer to the ASTER SWIR User Advisory for more details.
  • Data acquisition gaps: On November 28, 2024, one of Terra's power-transmitting shunt units failed. As a result, there was insufficient power to maintain functionality of the ASTER instrument. ASTER resumed acquisitions for the VNIR bands on January 18, 2025, and for the TIR bands on April 15, 2025. Users should note the data gap in ASTER acquisitions from November 28, 2024, through January 16, 2025, for VNIR observations, and a gap from November 28, 2024, through April 15, 2025, for TIR acquisitions.

Improvements/Changed from Previous Version

  • Starting June 23, 2021, radiometric calibration coefficient Version 5 (RCC V5) will be applied to newly observed ASTER data and archived ASTER data products. Details regarding RCC V5 are described in the following journal article.
    • Tsuchida, S., Yamamoto, H., Kouyama, T., Obata, K., Sakuma, F., Tachikawa, T., Kamei, A., Arai, K., Czapla-Myers, J.S., Biggar, S.F., and Thome, K.J., 2020, Radiometric Degradation Curves for the ASTER VNIR Processing Using Vicarious and Lunar Calibrations: Remote Sensing, v. 12, no. 3, at https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12030427.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
Instruments
ASTER
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
15 Meters x 15 Meters
30 Meters x 30 Meters
90 Meters x 90 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-03-04 to 2025-12-15
Temporal Resolution
Varies
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
C3553655804-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
1B
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
REFLECTED INFRARED ,
THERMAL INFRARED ,
VISIBLE IMAGERY ,
Visible Radiance

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. (2001). ASTER Level 1B Data Set Registered Radiance at the Sensor [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/AST_L1B.003 Date Accessed: 2026-01-08

File Naming Convention

AST_L1B_00309112025215121_20250912142333_667099.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (AST_L1B), followed by the 3-digit Version Number plus the Date and Time of Acquisition designated as MMDDYYYYHHMMSS (000309112025215121), Date and Time of Processing designated as YYYYMMDDHHMMSS (20250912142333), Unique Processing Identifier (667099), and the Data Format (hdf).

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