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Description

The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) mission measures the temperature of plants to better understand how much water plants need and how they respond to stress. ECOSTRESS is attached to the International Space Station (ISS) and collects data globally between 52° N and 52° S latitudes.

The ECOSTRESS Gridded Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity Instantaneous Level 2 Global 70 m (ECO_L2G_LSTE) Version 3 data product provides atmospherically corrected land surface temperature and emissivity (LST&E) values derived from the five thermal infrared (TIR) bands using the Temperature-Emissivity Separation (TES) algorithm. In addition, a Sea Surface Temperature (SST) variable is included that is valid over all water surfaces (ocean and inland water). The Level 2 LST&E and SST algorithms run on all pixels regardless of land, ocean, or cloud. This data product is projected to a globally snapped 0.0006° grid with a spatial resolution of 70 meters (m).

The ECO_L2G_LSTE Version 3 data product is distributed in an HDF5 format file. Each granule contains 20 variables of LST, quality control flags (QC), band emissivities (bands 1-5), LST error, band emissivity error (bands 1-5), wideband emissivity (EmisWB), SST, precipitable water vapor (PWV), cloud_mask, water_mask, view_zenith, and height.

Known Issues

  • Solar Array Obstruction: Some ECOSTRESS scenes may be affected by solar array obstructions from the ISS, potentially impacting data quality in obstructed pixels. The 'FieldOfViewObstruction' metadata field is reliably populated and accurate for all products generated on or after October 2024, following fixes to the PGE docker configuration and updates to the L1A_RAW_PIX software. Prior to October 2024, the field was not reliably populated; a list of confirmed affected scenes was maintained and is recommended for verifying historical data.
  • Historical acquisition gaps and anomalies (2018–2023): Irrecoverable data loss occurred due to Mass Storage Unit (MSU) failures, resulting in permanent gaps in the observational record where no ECOSTRESS data was acquired. Other early issues, including band 4 striping (Feb 2020), 3-band TES mode limitations (May 2019–April 2023), and noisy data periods (e.g., May–July 2025), have been mitigated through reprocessing, firmware updates, and instrument recovery. Version 3 products incorporate these improvements where data exists and are unaffected by ongoing issues, but the permanent historical gaps remain, and caution is advised for time-series analyses spanning affected periods.
  • Product formats: Version 3 discontinues swath-based (non-gridded) HDF5 products for Level 2 LST&E and Cloud outputs. Only gridded (ECO_L2G_LSTE and ECO_L2G_CLOUD in HDF5) and tiled (ECO_L2T_LSTE in Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF) formats are available for Level 2 products. Swath-based products remain available for Level 1 products (e.g., ECO_L1B_RAD, ECO_L1B_GEO). Version 3 discontinues HDF5 products for Level 2 STARS, Level 3 Evapotranspiration, and Level 4 Evaporative Stress Index, and Water Use Efficiency outputs. Only tiled (Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF) formats remain available for these products. Users transitioning from Version 2 should verify compatibility with the new structures.
  • Geolocation considerations: While geolocation is improved in Collection 3 tiled products (fixed Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) grid), gridded products may reference legacy "GeolocationAccuracyQA" flags. Use "best" and "good" scenes for applications sensitive to precise positioning.

Version Description

The following major changes and improvements were implemented for ECOSTRESS Version 3 LST&E data products: (1) Swath-based products in HDF5 format are no longer produced; only gridded (L2G HDF5) and tiled (L2T COG) products are produced, (2) The L2 LST&E product introduces a new Sea Surface Temperature (SST) variable for ocean and inland water, and (3) The L2 Cloud Mask algorithm improvements employ a physically based, single-channel Bayesian look-up-table (LUT) approach. This replaces earlier thresholding methods. It incorporates GEOS-5 atmospheric profiles at 0.5° resolution and directly uses the skin temperature field from the GEOS-5 2-dimensional surface grid data product, enhancing detection accuracy at coastal/land interfaces and for low, warm clouds over warm surfaces.

Product Summary

Platforms
ISS
Instruments
ECOSTRESS
Spatial Extent

N: 54 S: -54 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
70 Meters x 70 Meters
Location
GLOBAL LAND
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2018-07-09 to Present
Temporal Resolution
Varies
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) ,
ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/ECOSTRESS)
Concept ID
C3998139648-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
3576
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Land Surface Temperature ,
Sea Surface Temperature ,
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

Hook, S., & Hulley, G. (2026). ECOSTRESS Gridded Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity Instantaneous L2 Global 70 m v003 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ECOSTRESS/ECO_L2G_LSTE.003 Date Accessed: 2026-04-26

File Naming Convention

ECOv003_L2G_LSTE_43166_024_20260215T084515_01.h5

The file name begins with the Sensor (ECO) followed by the Product Version (v003), Processing Level and Type (L2G), Geophysical Parameter (LSTE), Orbit Number (43166), Scene Identifier (024), Date and Time of Acquisition designated as YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS (20260215T084515), Product Iteration Number (01), and the Data Format (h5).

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Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor Offset
cloud_mask Final cloud mask N/A uint8 255 0 to 1 N/A N/A
Emis1 Band 1 emissivity N/A uint8 0 1 to 255 0.002 0.49
Emis1_Err Band 1 emissivity error N/A uint16 0 1 to 65535 0.0001 N/A
Emis2 Band 2 emissivity N/A uint8 0 1 to 255 0.002 0.49
Emis2_Err Band 2 emissivity error N/A uint16 0 1 to 65535 0.0001 N/A
Emis3 Band 3 emissivity N/A uint8 0 1 to 255 0.002 0.49
Emis3_Err Band 3 emissivity error N/A uint16 0 1 to 65535 0.0001 N/A
Emis4 Band 4 emissivity N/A uint8 0 1 to 255 0.002 0.49
Emis4_Err Band 4 emissivity error N/A uint16 0 1 to 65535 0.0001 N/A
Emis5 Band 5 emissivity N/A uint8 0 1 to 255 0.002 0.49
Emis5_Err Band 5 emissivity error N/A uint16 0 1 to 65535 0.0001 N/A
EmisWB Wide band emissivity N/A uint8 0 1 to 255 0.002 0.49
height height m float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
LST Land Surface Temperature K uint16 0 7500 to 65535 0.02 N/A
LST_Err Land Surface Temperature error K uint8 0 1 to 255 0.04 N/A
PWV Precipitable Water Vapor cm uint16 0 1 to 65535 0.001 N/A
QC Quality control for LST and emissivity N/A uint16 N/A 0 to 65535 N/A N/A
SST Sea Surface Temperature K uint16 0 7500 to 65535 0.02 N/A
view_zenith Sensor Zenith degrees float32 255 -90 to 90 N/A N/A
water_mask Water mask N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
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