Earth Science Data Roundup: April 2024

A summary of datasets, products, and resources released by NASA’s Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) in March 2024.

Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center (ASF DAAC)

New StoryMap Tutorial on Change Detection with OPERA RTC-S1 Products

A new data tutorial at NASA's ASF DAAC shows how to use the NASA Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) Sentinel-1 Radiometric Terrain Correction (RTC) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) product to visualize landscape changes caused by disturbances like floods, deforestation, agriculture, and freeze/thaw cycles.

The tutorial walks users through the process of searching for and downloading OPERA RTC data from ASF and then describes workflows for importing the data into ArcGIS or QGIS and performing change detection analysis.

More information about the OPERA tutorial

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Log difference image calculated by ASF using OPERA Level-2 Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 products, processed by the OPERA project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The image shows a segment of the Yukon River in Alaska, and was generated using two OPERA RTC-S1 products from October 2023. Red colors indicate an increase in radar backscatter from the first image to the second, including areas where ice has formed on the river. Blue colors indicate a decrease in radar backscatter from the first image to the second. Yellow colors indicate areas that are unchanged. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/OPERA. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data, processed by ESA (European Space Agency).

Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC)

New TEMPO Level 2 and Level 3 Data Products Released

NASA's ASDC released a suite of unvalidated Level 2 and Level 3 data products from the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission. They include:

New Edition of the CERES Cloud Radiative Swath 1deg-Hour Product

ASDC, in concert with the Radiation Budget Science Project (RBSP)/Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) science team, released Edition 4A of the CERES Cloud Radiative Swath (CRS), 1deg-Hour data product. This single-satellite product is an hourly, regionally averaged, gridded data product of CERES instantaneous computed surface fluxes using clouds and aerosols derived from the CERES instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. This release encompasses January 2018 to December 2022.

Access the new CERES CRS edition and more information about this product

Global Hydrometeorology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC)

Particle Habit Imaging and Polar Scattering Probe (PHIPS) IMPACTS, Version 1 Dataset

NASA's GHRC DAAC released the Particle Habit Imaging and Polar Scattering (PHIPS) Probes dataset from the Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) campaign. IMPACTS is a three-year (2020 to 2023) sequence of winter season deployments conducted to study snowstorms over the U.S. Atlantic Coast. PHIPS allows for the measurement of particle shape, size, and habit. The files are available from January 18, 2020, through February 28, 2023, and are in PNG format.

Access the PHIPS IMPACTS dataset and more information

High-Impact Weather Assessment Toolkit (HIWAT) Version 1 Released

The High Impact Weather Assessment Toolkit (HIWAT) uses data from a mesoscale numerical weather prediction model and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) constellation of satellites and includes a suite of ensemble model forecasts to provide a probabilistic forecast for improved decision-making. The toolkit provides outlooks for lightning strikes, high-impact winds, high rainfall rates, hail damage, and other weather events, and provides a 54-hour probabilistic forecast over Nepal and Bangladesh along with parts of northeast India (i.e., the Hindu Kush Himalayan region). HIWAT also supports threat assessments (such as thunderstorm intensity) using land imagery to identify damage scars. The dataset files cover the period from April 2, 2017, through October 2, 2022, and are available in netCDF4 format.

Access HIWAT data and more information

National Center for Atmospheric Research Particle Probes IMPACTS, Version 1 Dataset

Version 1 of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Particle Probes IMPACTS dataset is now available at NASA's GHRC DAAC. This product consists of data collected from six instruments carried aboard NASA's P-3 aircraft—the Stratton Park Engineering Company, Inc. (SPEC) Hawkeye Cloud Particle Imager, the Hawkeye Fast Cloud Droplet Probe, the Hawkeye Two-Dimensional Stereo Probe, the SPEC Two-Dimensional Stereo probe, and two SPEC High Volume Precipitation Spectrometers—used during the IMPACTS field campaign. Data files are available in netCDF4 format (browse imagery is available in PNG format) and cover the period from January 18, 2020, through February 26, 2020, and from January 14, 2022, through February 28, 2023.

Access NCAR Particle Probes IMPACTS data and more information

New York State Mesonet IMPACTS, Version 1 Dataset Released

The New York State Mesonet IMPACTS dataset (browse-only) is now available at NASA's GHRC DAAC. The dataset consists of temperature, wind, wind direction, mean sea level pressure, precipitation, and snow depth measurements, as well as profiler Doppler lidar and microwave radiometer measurements from the New York State Mesonet network during the IMPACTS field campaign. These browse files cover January 3, 2020, through March 2, 2023, and are available in PNG format.

Access New York State Mesonet IMPACTS data and more information

P-3 Meteorological and Navigation Data IMPACTS Dataset, Version 1

GHRC DAAC released the P-3 Meteorological and Navigation Data IMPACTS dataset, which is a subset of airborne metrics that include GPS positioning and trajectory data, aircraft orientation, and measurements of atmospheric temperature, pressure, water vapor, and horizontal winds. Data are available in ASCII format and cover the period January 12, 2020, through February 28, 2023.

Access the P-3 Meteorological and Navigation Data IMPACTS dataset and more information

Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC)

New TROPESS Chemical Reanalysis Products

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This visualization of TROPESS Chemistry Reanalysis Version 2 data shows global distributions of surface NOx emissions averaged over the period of 2005 to 2018. Yellow, orange, and red colors indicate higher NOx concentrations. Credit: NASA JPL SSW, Miyazaki, et al. 2020b. doi:10.5194/essd-12-2223-2020

NASA's GES DISC released the NASA Tropospheric Ozone and Precursors from Earth System Sounding (TROPESS) Chemistry Reanalysis Version 2 (TCR-2) datasets for trace gasses of ozone, carbon monoxide, hydroxide, sulfur dioxide, peroxyacetyl nitrate, nitric acid, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, aerosols, and emission sources of nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide.

The datasets include 3D atmospheric concentrations (horizontal distributions and vertical profiles), 3D model and data assimilation diagnostic information, and 2D emissions (horizontal distributions) at various time scales. The TCR-2 data cover the period from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2021, and provide global coverage with 2-hourly, 6-hourly, and monthly averages at a grid resolution of 1.125° latitude x 1.125° longitude. TCR-2 products are written in the netCDF4 file format and are reported at a range of 27 vertical levels from the surface (1000 hPa) to 60 hPa.

Access TROPESS Chemical Reanalysis products and more information

Aqua AIRS Version 7 Data Now Available

GES DISC and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument science team released a suite of AIRS Version 7 Level 2 and Level 3 data products. The Version 7 data represent a significant improvement over AIRS Version 6 Level 2 products, especially with the AIRS infrared only (IR) product, whose retrievals are processed in a forward stream through the present time. In addition to the Level 2 data, the accompanying Level 3 daily and monthly 1° latitude x 1° longitude gridded products are available for each of the processed algorithms.

Access AIRS Version 7 data and more information

MERRA-2 Stratospheric Composition Reanalysis of Aura Microwave Limb Sounder

GES DISC and NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) have released the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications-2 (MERRA-2) Stratospheric Composition Reanalysis of Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (M2-SCREAM). This stratosphere-focused chemical reanalysis provides assimilated global three-dimensional fields of ozone, water vapor, hydrogen chloride, nitric acid, and nitrous oxide mixing ratios, all of which are of primary importance to stratospheric chemistry and transport studies.

This release contains the M2-SCREAM output for the period covering October 2004 to December 2021, with periodic updates of additional data collections extending the record into the future.

Access M2-SCREAM data and more information

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Sample assimilated constituent fields from M2-SCREAM interpolated to the 500-K potential temperature surface (approximately 50 hPa) for ozone. The fields are valid for March 18, 2011 at 18 UTC. Microwave Limb Sounder observations made between 15 and 21 UTC are shown as colored circles. Darker colors (orange/red) indicate higher ozone concentrations. Credit: NASA's GES DISC.

New Ocean Biogeochemistry from Gliders Dataset Available

GES DISC and NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Project released the Ocean Biogeochemistry from Gliders as part of the Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series (BGC_glider_GNATS) data product.

This dataset contains ocean biogeochemistry data, such as chlorophyll-a fluorescence, measured along the Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series transect. Each file contains data from one deployment and provides both eastbound and a westbound measurement of each variable. (A full deployment takes approximately 20 to 30 days.) The data are gridded by longitude (0.01° intervals) and depth (1-meter intervals).

Access the BGC_glider_GNATS dataset and more information

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The Gulf of Maine with the GNATS transect shown as a solid line. Colors indicate depth in meters. Credit: NASA's GES DISC.

Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)

OPERA Land Surface Disturbance Alert Version 1 Data Product

The Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA) Land Surface Disturbance Alert from Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) Version 1 data product is now available from NASA's LP DAAC. This product provides identification of detectable change in global vegetation cover using HLS data. The data are offered at a spatial resolution of 70 meters and are produced by the OPERA project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Access the OPERA Land Surface Disturbance product and more information

EMIT Radiance and Reflectance Data Products Now Available

LP DAAC released Version 3.47 of the Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS). This release adds data from NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument installed on the International Space Station. AppEEARS added the following EMIT datasets:

  • EMIT Level 1B At-Sensor Calibrated Radiance and Geolocation Data
  • EMIT Level 2A Estimated Surface Reflectance and Uncertainty and Masks

Although these products will be available for point and area requests via AppEEARS, results will only be available for download. At this time, the AppEEARS user interface does not support visualizing and exploring results containing EMIT variables, but this feature will be added in the future.

Access EMIT datasets and more information

MODIS Version 6.2 Radiation Data Products

LP DAAC released four updated Terra and Aqua combined Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Version 6.2 Downward Shortwave Radiation (DSR) and Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) data products.

These products are produced daily with estimated DSR and PAR values every 3 hours and are provided at 1,000 meter (m) and 0.05° (~5,600 m) spatial resolutions. Version 6.1 radiation data products will remain available during this transition. As part of Version 6.2, MODIS shortwave infrared bands are now included in the retrieval algorithm, significantly reducing estimation uncertainties in cloud- and snow-covered pixels. In addition, an improved climatology of surface reflectance was produced and used in the retrieval algorithm.

Access MODIS Version 6.2 radiation data products and more information

VIIRS Version 1 Forward Processing to End on June 30, 2024

Forward processing of Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Version 1 (Collection 1) land data products from the joint NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite will be discontinued on June 30, 2024. Users are encouraged to transition to VIIRS Version 2, which includes data products from both the Suomi NPP and the NOAA-20 satellites. The VIIRS Earth Science Data Records for Version 2 will include additional data products to provide continuity with MODIS land science products.

More information about the end of VIIRS Version 1 forward processing

Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Version 2 Migrates to the Earthdata Cloud

GEDI Version 2 Level 1B Geolocated Waveform, Level 2A Elevation and Height Metrics, and Level 2B Canopy Cover and Vertical Profile Metrics data products have migrated to NASA's Earthdata Cloud. This migration allows for continued download of data files via HTTPS in Earthdata Search and offers a new option for working with these data in the cloud via Simple Storage Service (S3) direct access.

More information about the GEDI data migration

National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC)

SnowEx23 Snow Depth and Canopy Height and Airborne Lidar Scans Datasets Released

NASA's NSIDC DAAC released the SnowEx23 Airborne Lidar-Derived 0.25M Snow Depth and Canopy Height, Version 1 and ;SnowEx23 Airborne Lidar Scans Raw, Version 1 datasets. These datasets provide digital terrain models, snow depth, and canopy height. The data were acquired by a scanning lidar system and derived from Point Cloud Digital Terrain Models from two regions of Alaska and the associated raw lidar data. Temporal coverage spans from March 11, 2022, to October 25, 2023.

Access the SnowEx23 snow depth/canopy height and lidar scans datasets and more information

SnowEx23 Laser Snow Microstructure Specific Surface Area Snow-off Dataset Released

The SnowEx23 Laser Snow Microstructure Specific Surface Area Snow-off Data, Version 1 dataset is now available. This dataset contains vertical profiles of snow reflectance and specific surface area from the Fairbanks region of central Alaska and the North Slope region of the northern Alaska coastal plain collected as part of the NASA SnowEx 2023 field campaign. Temporal coverage spans from October 17, 2023, through October 28, 2023.

Access the SnowEx23 snow microstructure dataset and more information

Updated Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) Datasets

Two Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation-2 Satellite (ICESat-2) datasets—the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) Level 2A Global Geolocated Photon Data (ATL03), Version 6 and the Level 2A Normalized Relative Backscatter Profiles (ATL04), Version 6 (as well as higher level products derived from the ATL03 and ATL04 products)—will be updated to make the entire dataset referenced to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) 2014. Data from November 13, 2022, to October 26, 2023, in Versions 6 of ATL03, ATL04, and their derived products will be reprocessed to ITRF2014. Reprocessed data are expected to start arriving at NSIDC by April 1, 2024.

Access the updated ICESat-2 datasets and more information

Updated MEaSUREs Greenland Image and Ice Sheet Velocity Mosaics

The NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Greenland Image Mosaics from Sentinel-1A and -1B, Version 4, and MEaSUREs Greenland 6- and 12-day Ice Sheet Velocity Mosaics from SAR, Version 2 datasets have been extended until December 26, 2023; the 6- and 12-day velocity mosaics now span until December 14, 2023.

Access the Greenland image and ice sheet velocity mosaics and more information

VIIRS Version 1 (Collection 1) to Cease Forward Processing

Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Version 1 (Collection 1) snow and sea ice datasets will cease forward processing on June 30, 2024. Version 1 data will remain available for download, but users are encouraged to transition to VIIRS Version 2. VIIRS Version 2 includes new snow, sea ice, and ice surface temperature data sets from both the Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellites.

More information about the end to forward processing of VIIRS snow and ice datasets

Version 4 ATLAS/ICESat-2 Level 3B Weekly and Monthly Gridded Atmosphere Datasets Retiring

The ATLAS/ICESat-2 Level 3B Weekly Gridded Atmosphere (ATL16) and ATLAS/ICESat-2 Level 3B Monthly Gridded Atmosphere (ATL17), Version 4 datasets will be retired on April 4, 2024. Access to these data will no longer be available after this date, although dataset documentation will remain accessible for future reference. The DAAC recommends that users transition to Version 5 of these datasets. Version-specific details can be found under Version Summary on each dataset’s web page and in Section 3 of the product User Guide.

More information about the retirement of Version 4 of the ATL16 and ATL17 datasets

Bootstrap Sea Ice Concentrations Dataset Updated

The Bootstrap Sea Ice Concentrations produced from data collected by the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM-I) / Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Version 4 dataset has been updated to include new data through September 30, 2023.

This dataset consists of daily and monthly sea ice concentrations derived from brightness temperature measurements and is available for the north and south polar regions, with a temporal coverage extending back to November 1, 1978. The data are gridded to the 25-kilometer polar stereographic projection and provided in two-byte integer format.

Access the updated sea ice concentration dataset and more information

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC)

BlueFlux Airborne Dataset Released

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Map of southern Florida showing flight lines for each deployment during the BlueFlux campaign. Map courtesy of Erin Delaria.

NASA's ORNL DAAC released Version 1 of the BlueFlux Airborne Trace Gases, Fluxes, and Mixing Ratios, Southern Florida, 2022-2023 dataset. The objective of the BlueFlux campaign was to measure greenhouse gases in Florida's mangrove ecosystems. This dataset includes airborne in-situ measurements of greenhouse gas mixing ratios, meteorological parameters, and fluxes (carbon dioxide, methane, latent heat fluxes, friction velocity, and convective velocity scale) calculated with wavelet transforms.

Flights occurred April 19 to 26, 2022, October 14 to 20, 2022, February 5 to 13, 2023, and April 13 to 19, 2023, and flight lines spanned southern Florida's Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.

Access BlueFlux data and more information

Gridded Carbon Dioxide and Methane Flux Estimates for Pan-Arctic and Boreal Regions Dataset Available

Version 1 of the Gridded Carbon Dioxide and Methane Flux Estimates for pan-Arctic and Boreal Regions, 2003-2015 dataset is now available. The dataset provides gridded estimates of gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (Reco), net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange, and methane emissions from tundra and boreal wetland soils across the pan-Arctic and Boreal zone at 1-km spatial resolution. The data were produced through simulations of the Arctic Terrestrial Carbon Flux Model, are provided at the daily time step for the years 2003 to 2015, and are provided in netCDF and comma-separated values (CSV) formats.

Access the Gridded Carbon Dioxide and Methane Flux Extimates dataset and more information

Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), California-Arizona Dataset Released

The Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), California-Arizona, Summer 2023 Version 1 dataset created from data acquired by the MODIS/Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument is now available. This dataset includes Level 1B and Level 2 data. Spectral data were collected during 13 flights aboard a NASA ER-2 research aircraft over California, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona from April 25, 2023, to September 26, 2023. Level 1B files are in HDF4 format; Level 2 products are provided in ENVI and KMZ formats. The dataset also includes the flight path, spectral band information, instrument configuration, ancillary notes, summary information for each flight, and browse images derived from each Level 1B data file.

Access the GEMx MASTER dataset and more information

Western Diversity Time Series Campaign, Spring 2023 Version 1 Dataset Available

ORNL DAAC released the Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS) campaign, Spring 2023 Version 1 dataset, which includes Level 1B and Level 2 data products from the MASTER instrument. The spectral data were collected as part of the WDTS airborne campaign during 12 flights aboard a NASA ER-2 research aircraft over California and Nevada from March 31, 2023, to May 2, 2023. Level 1B files are available in HDF4 format; Level 2 products are provided in ENVI and KMZ formats. The dataset also includes the flight path, spectral band information, instrument configuration, ancillary notes, summary information for each flight, and browse images derived from each Level 1B data file.

Access the WDTS MASTER dataset and more information

Satellite-Derived Forest Extent Likelihood Map for Mexico Version 1 Dataset Released

The Satellite-Derived Forest Extent Likelihood Map for Mexico Version 1 dataset is now available. This dataset provides a comparison of forest extent agreement from seven remote sensing-based products across the country—the ESA (European Space Agency) 2020 Land Cover Map for Mexico, Globeland30 2020, Commission for Environmental Cooperation 2015 Land Cover Map, Impact Observatory 2020 Land Cover Map, NAIP Trained Mean Percent Cover Map, Global Land Analysis and Discovery Global 2010 Tree Cover, and Global Forest Cover Change Tree Cover 30 Meter Global. All products include data at 10- to 30-meter resolution and represent the state of forest or tree cover from 2010 to 2020. The combined agreement map documents forest cover for each satellite-derived product at 30-meter resolution across the country. Data are in cloud optimized GeoTIFF format and cover the period 2010 to 2020. A shapefile is included that outlines Mexico mainland areas.

Access the Satellite-Derived Forest Extent Likelihood Map for Mexico and more information

New North America Surface Soil Moisture Dataset Available

ORNL DAAC released Version 1 of the North America Soil Moisture Dataset Derived from Time-Specific Adaptable Machine Learning Models (NASMo-TiAM) 250 Meter 16-day North America Surface Soil Moisture dataset. This dataset holds gridded estimates of surface soil moisture (0 to 5 cm depth) at a spatial resolution of 250 meters over 16-day intervals from mid-2002 to December 2020 for North America. The model used random forests to downscale coarse-resolution soil moisture estimates (0.25 degrees) from the ESA (European Space Agency) Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) based on their correlation with a set of static (terrain parameters, bulk density) and dynamic covariates (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, land surface temperature). The data are provided in cloud optimized GeoTIFF format.

Access the NASMo-TiAM soil moisture dataset and more information

Arctic Boreal Annual Burned Area, Circumpolar Boreal Forest and Tundra Dataset Released

Version 2 of the Arctic Boreal Annual Burned Area, Circumpolar Boreal Forest and Tundra 2002-2022 dataset is now available This product provides annual cumulative end-of-season burned area in circumpolar boreal forests and tundra for the years 2002 to 2022. The spatial domain is circumpolar regions above 50° north latitude and the data are provided in cloud optimized GeoTIFF format with 463-meter resolution.

Access the Arctic Boreal Annual Burned Area dataset and more information

Global Daily Gross Primary Production Dataset Available

The Global MODIS and FLUXNET-derived Daily Gross Primary Production, Version 2 dataset provides global gridded daily estimates of gross primary production (GPP) and uncertainties at 0.05° resolution for the period covering March 1, 2000, to near present.

Access Global MODIS and FLUXNET data and more information

Photosynthetic and Leaf Traits, Santa Barbara County, Dataset Now Available

Version 1 of the Photosynthetic and Leaf Traits, Santa Barbara County, 2022 dataset from the NASA Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) High Frequency Time series (SHIFT) campaign is now available. This dataset provides leaf images and measurements of leaf traits (area, wet weight, dry weight, leaf mass per area, leaf water content) and leaf pigments (chlorophyll) and species information as sampled from meadows, shrubs, and trees in Santa Barbara, California.

Samples were collected from plots within the Dangermond Preserve, Sedgwick Reserve, and Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve from February 23, 2022, to September 27, 2022. The associated data package contains image scans used for the leaf area calculations as well as Python processing code used to calculate the area. A CSV-formatted file includes plot-level leaf area, wet weight, leaf mass area, leaf water content, chlorophyll fluorescence ratio, and chlorophyll content.

Access the Photosynthetic and Leaf Traits, Santa Barbara County dataset and more information

Global Vegetation Height Metrics Dataset Released

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This screen capture of GEDI data shows the crisscross pattern of the GEDI laser's tracks on Earth’s terrestrial surface over North Carolina, USA. Credit: GEDI.

Version 1 of the Global Vegetation Height Metrics from GEDI and ICESat-2 dataset provides global rasters of relative height metrics for vegetation from Level 2A GEDI data and Level 3A ICESat-2 data at 100-, 200-, 500-, and 1000-meter spatial resolutions. GEDI data were collected from 2019 to 2022; ICESat-2 data were collected from 2019 to 2021. The data are provided in cloud optimized GeoTIFF format.

Access the Global Vegetation Height Metrics Dataset and more information

Trends of Thermal, Wetness, and Vegetative Change in the Circumpolar Arctic Dataset Released

Version 1 of the Trends of Thermal, Wetness, and Vegetative Change in the Circumpolar Arctic dataset provides estimates of trends in temperature, moisture, and vegetation change over the circumpolar Arctic. Trends were measured annually and over spring (March to May), summer (June to August), autumn (September to November), and winter (December to February) from 1980 to 2020 and from 1997 to 2020 (depending on the variable and original data availability). Ancillary files provide the boundaries of study regions, brown permafrost regions, and a land cover product. The data are provided in cloud optimized GeoTIFF and shapefile formats.

Access the Trends of Thermal, Wetness, and Vegetative Change dataset and more information

Pantropical Forest Height and Biomass Dataset Released

ORNL DAAC released Version 1 of the Pantropical Forest Height and Biomass from GEDI and TanDEM-X Data Fusion Dataset, which includes maps of canopy height and aboveground biomass at spatial resolutions of 25 m and 100 m for Mexico, Gabon, French Guiana, and the Amazon Basin. The GEDI and TanDEM-X fusion maps were created by combining data from NASA's GEDI Version 2 footprint data from April 18, 2019, to August 18, 2021, with TanDEM-X Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) images from January 6, 2011, to December 31, 2020. The dataset also includes maps of canopy height uncertainty, biomass uncertainty, and ancillary data including a regional modeling parameter and forest disturbance.

Access the Pantropical Forest Height and Biomass dataset and more information

Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC)

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Sea Surface Salinity Dataset Released

NASA's PO.DAAC released Version 6.0 of the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) validated datasets. This release includes Level 2C, Level 2C near real-time, Level 3 mapped monthly, and 8-day running average datasets. All products are in netCDF4 file format and are CF/ACDD metadata conventions compliant.

The major changes between versions 5.0 and 6.0 are:

  • Removal of biases during the first few months (April 2015 to August 2015) of the SMAP mission that are related to the operation of the SMAP radar during that time
  • Mitigation of biases that depend on the SMAP look angle
  • Mitigation of salty biases at high northern latitudes
  • Revised (small change) Sun-glint flag

The datasets extend from March 28, 2015 to the present with 4-day latency for Level 2C, 5-hour latency for Level 2C near real-time, and 7-day latency for both Level 3 8-day running average and Level 3 monthly average.

Access SMAP SSS Version 6.0 data and more information

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This graphic shows 70-kilometer sea surface salinity data from the SMAP mission for the eight-day period ending May 16, 2015. Yellow and red colors indicate areas of higher sea surface salinity. Credit: NASA/JPL/SMAP.

OSCAR Third Degree and One Degree Datasets Will Be Retired and Superseded by Version 2.0

Three Ocean Surface Current Analysis Real-time (OSCAR) third degree and 1 degree datasets (OSCAR Level 4 OC third degree, OSCAR Level 4 OC third degree YEARLY, and OSCAR Level 4 OC 1 degree) will be retired in April 2024. Users are encouraged to use the newest version, OSCAR Version 2.0, which is available in three latencies and provides daily averaged surface currents over a quarter degree grid.

Access OSCAR data and more information

CYGNSS Science Data Record Datasets Released

Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) Science Data Record Version 3.2 Level 1 DDM calibration, Level 2 wind speed retrieval, Level 3 fully developed seas gridded wind speed, and Level 3 merged wind speed data products are now available. The Level 3 merged wind speed product, which is new, combines the Level 2 fully developed seas and young seas limited fetch winds products, and eliminates the need to choose between them depending on sea state development and proximity to storms. The data are provided in netCDF4 format and extend from August 1, 2018, to the present with an approximate 6-day latency.

Access the new CYGNSS datasets and more information

New Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) Science Data Products Released

Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) Science Data Products from NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission are available. This release includes KaRIn Low-Rate oceanography products forward processed from November 23, 2023, onward and KaRIn Low-Rate oceanography and High-Rate hydrology products forward processed from January 25, 2024, onward.

Access the KaRIn data products and more information

Rongowai-CYGNSS Airborne Dataset Released

PO.DAAC released the Rongowai-CYGNSS Airborne Level 1 Science Data Record Version 1.0 dataset (produced by the University of Auckland Rongowai Science Payloads Operations Centre in New Zealand). The dataset contains the geo-located Delay Doppler Maps calibrated into Power Received (Watts) and Bistatic Radar Cross Section (BRCS) expressed in units of meters squared from the Delay Doppler Mapping Instrument carried on an Air New Zealand domestic Q300 flight.

The dataset starts on October 27, 2022, and each data file corresponds to a single flight between airports within New Zealand (flight durations typically range between 45 and 90 minutes, with a median of 7 flights/day); measurements are reported at 1 second increments. Data latency is approximately 1 day (or better) from the last recorded measurement time. Primary parameters include the co- and cross-polarized Normalized Bistatic Radar Cross Section (NBRCS) of the specular point, the Leading Edge Slope (LES) of the integrated delay waveform and the normalized waveforms, as well as coherence detection and a coherence state metric. The data are distributed in netCDF4 format.

Access the Rongowai-CYGNSS Airborne Dataset and more information

Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)

Natural Resource Protection and Child Health Indicators, 2023 Release Now Available

NASA's SEDAC released the Natural Resource Protection and Child Health Indicators (2010  to 2022) Dataset (2023 Release). This dataset is produced to assist in the country selection process for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) by providing indicators of natural resource protection and child health that complement the governance, social, and economic indicators the MCC uses as country selection criteria.

The Natural Resource Protection Indicators (NRPI) and Child Health Indicators (CHI) are based on proximity-to-target scores ranging from 0 to 100 (at target). The NRPI covers 76 countries that are eligible for MCC funding and uses the 2022 Environmental Performance Index (which provides a quantitative basis for comparing, analyzing, and understanding environmental performance for 180 countries). The CHI is a composite index for 198 countries derived from the average of three proximity-to-target scores for at least basic access to water, at least basic access to sanitation, and child mortality rates. The 2023 release includes a consistent time series of NRPI scores for 2019 to 2022 and CHI scores for 2010 to 2022.

Access the Natural Resource Protection and Child Health Indicators dataset and more information

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The Child Health Indicators is a composite index for 198 countries derived from the average of three parameters: basic access to water, basic access to sanitation, and child mortality rates. The data on the global map shown here are from the 2017 release and cover the years 2010  to 2016. Darker colors indicate higher CHI values indicating higher access to water and sanitation along with lower child mortality rates. White/light gray countries indicate no data (as seen in Greenland). Credit: NASA's SEDAC.