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Description

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Surface Kinetic Temperature (AST_08) V004 product delivers surface kinetic temperature data derived from the five Thermal Infrared (TIR) bands (Bands 10–14), collected during both daytime and nighttime observations. The AST_08 product has a spatial resolution of 90 meters (m) for the TIR bands. This Level 2 (L2) product is produced using the Temperature/Emissivity Separation (TES) algorithm, which processes atmospherically corrected ASTER surface radiance (TIR) data to estimate emissivity and compute temperature. In Version 4, atmospheric correction has been significantly improved by integrating Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 (MERRA-2) data, enhancing the accuracy of temperature retrievals.

Known Issues

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

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for ASTER Level 2 Version 4 data products: (1) ASTER V4 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, (2) 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, and (3) Data format has transitioned from legacy HDF-EOS2 to Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG).

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
Instruments
ASTER
Spatial Extent

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

Spatial Resolution
90 Meters x 90 Meters
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-03-04 to 2026-01-16
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
C3306885674-LPCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
4725123
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Land Surface Temperature ,
Sea Surface Temperature

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 Kinetic Temperature V004 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/AST_08.004 Date Accessed: 2026-02-10

File Naming Convention

AST_08_00401232021224347_20250912131456_SKT_QA_DataPlane.tif

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (AST_08), followed by the 3-digit Version Number plus the Date and Time of Acquisition designated as MMDDYYYYHHMMSS (00401232021224347), Date and Time of Processing designated as YYYYMMDDHHMMSS (20250912131456), Product Type (SKT), Band/Variable (QA_DataPlane), and the Data Format (tif).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
Using ground-based thermography to analyse surface temperature distribution and estimate debris thickness on Gran Zebru glacier (Ortles-Cevedale, Italy) Tarca, G.
Unravelling the multilevel and multi-dimensional impacts of building and tree on surface urban heat islands Chen, J.
Effect of landscape pattern and spatial configuration of vegetation patches on urban warming and cooling in Harare metropolitan city, Zimbabwe Kowe, P.
Unraveling long-term volcano flank instability at Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala, using satellite geodesy Gonzalez-Santana, J.
What can thermal imagery tell us about glacier melt below rock debris? Herreid, S.
Dominant urban form and its relation to nighttime land surface temperature in the rapidly urbanizing National Capital Region of India Chakraborty, S.
Separate and combined impacts of building and tree on urban thermal environment from two- and three-dimensional perspectives Chen, J.
Study of the urban heat island (UHI) using remote sensing data/techniques—A systematic review Almeida, C. R. d.
3D building configuration as the driver of diurnal and nocturnal land surface temperatures—Application in Beijing's old city Guo, F.
Effect of urban tree diversity and condition on surface temperature at the city block scale Chinchilla, J.
SHOWING 10 OF 57

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
KineticTemperature Surface kinetic temperature composite Kelvin uint16 N/A 2000 to 3200 0.1
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