Land Surface Data Access and Tools

NASA data provide key measurements of Earth’s land, allowing researchers to accurately understand its composition, processes, uses, and interactions. Our datasets and tools help researchers translate these interconnected data points into actionable knowledge.

Dataset	Geographic Region	Temporal Extent	Data Format	Potential Application Areas	Related Subtopics
ALOS PALSAR High Resolution Radiometric Terrain Corrected Product	Global	2006-03-23 to 2011-04-22		High-precision forest structure and biomass estimation Detailed wetland classification and monitoring Fine-scale surface deformation detection Terrain analysis in densely vegetated regions Resource exploration and geological mapping	erosion/ sedimentation, geomorphic landforms and processes, land use/ land cover, topography
ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Level 1 ScanSAR Product	Global	2014-08-01 to Present		Wide-area monitoring of land surface changes Regional vegetation and forest monitoring Large wetland area mapping and monitoring Continental-scale land use change detection Regional soil moisture assessment	geomorphic landforms and processes, land use/ land cover, topography
ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003	Global Land	2000-03-01 to 2013-11-30	Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG)	Detailed topographic analysis 3D visualization of landscapes Geological feature extraction Slope stability assessment	topography
ECOSTRESS Tiled Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity Instantaneous L2 Global 70 m	Global Land	2018-07-09 to Present	Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG)	High-resolution urban heat island analysis Plant water stress monitoring	surface radiative properties, surface thermal properties
EMIT L2A Estimated Surface Reflectance and Uncertainty and Masks 60 m	Global Land	2022-08-09 to Present	NetCDF-4	Surface mineralogy mapping Geological exploration and resource assessment Soil composition analysis Environmental impact assessment Critical mineral identification Spectral library development for earth materials	land use/ land cover, soils
GEDI L2A Elevation and Height Metrics Data Global Footprint Level V002	Global Land	2019-04-04 to 2023-03-16 2024-04-04 to Present	HDF5	Terrain model refinement under vegetation	topography
Global Hydrologic Soil Groups (HYSOGs250m) for Curve Number-Based Runoff Modeling	Global	2017-01-01 to 2017-11-28	GeoTIFF	Erosion potential mapping	land use/ land cover, soils
HLS Landsat Operational Land Imager Surface Reflectance and TOA Brightness Daily Global 30m v2.0	Global	2013-04-11 to Present	Cloud Optimized GeoTiff (COG)	Land cover and land use change monitoring Harmonized time series analysis with Sentinel-2	land use/ land cover, surface radiative properties
MAIAC Daily V01	Global	2015-06-13 to Present	PNG	Land cover and land use change analysis through improved atmospheric correction	land use/ land cover
MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid	Global	2000-02-24 to Present	HDF-EOS2	Regional thermal environment monitoring Urban heat island effect studies Climate model validation for land surface processes Land surface process energy balance studies	surface radiative properties, surface thermal properties
MODIS/Terra Surface Reflectance Daily L2G Global 250m SIN Grid V061	Global	2000-02-24 to Present	HDF-EOS2	Land cover change detection Time series analysis of surface conditions	land use/ land cover, surface radiative properties
NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Global 1 arc second V003	Global Land	2000-02-11 to 2000-02-21	HGT	Global terrain mapping and analysis Geomorphological research Land use planning in variable terrain Erosion potential modeling	land use/ land cover, topography
OPERA Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 Static Layers validated product (Version 1)	Global	2014-04-03 to Present	GeoTIFF XML	Long-term land cover monitoring with consistent reference layers Base mapping for change detection applications Terrain-corrected imagery for accurate spatial analysis Reference data for calibration of other SAR products Foundation for machine learning training datasets Consistent backdrop for time-series analysis	geomorphic landforms and processes, land use/ land cover,
SENTINEL-1A_SLC	Global	2014-04-03 to Present		Interferometric analysis for surface deformation detection Coherence-based change detection Polarimetric analysis for target characterization Phase-based classification of land cover Development of advanced SAR processing algorithms Time-series analysis for subtle change detection	erosion/ sedimentation, geomorphic landforms and processes, land use/ land cover, landscapes, topography
SENTINEL-1B_SLC	Global	2016-04-25 to 2021-12-24		High-resolution deformation mapping with interferometry Coherence analysis for subtle change detection Polarimetric target characterization Complex coherence analysis for vegetation structure Time-series analysis for seasonal change patterns	erosion/ sedimentation, geomorphic landforms and processes, land use/ land cover, landscapes, topography
Sentinel-1C Dual Polarization High Resolution Ground Range Detected Product	Global	2025-01-01 to Present	SAFE	Urban change detection and development monitoring Land cover classification with improved feature distinction	erosion/ sedimentation, geomorphic landforms and processes, land use/ land cover, topography
VIIRS/JPSS1 Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Day V002	Global	2018-01-01 to Present	HDF-EOS5	Surface thermal condition monitoring Climate change impact studies on land surface Thermal anomaly detection Ground frost mapping and monitoring	surface radiative properties, surface thermal properties
VIIRS/NPP Moderate Resolution 6-Min L1B Swath 750 m	Global	2021-12-15 to Present	HDF5 NetCDF-4	Multispectral environmental monitoring Land surface characterization Input for higher-level algorithms Vegetation monitoring Surface temperature retrieval input	land use/ land cover, surface thermal properties

Land Surface Datasets

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Dataset Sort descending	Version	Platform	Instrument	Temporal Extent	Spatial Extent	Data Format
ABoVE: Post-Fire and Unburned Vegetation Community and Field Data, NWT, Canada, 2017	1	FIELD INVESTIGATION	VISUAL OBSERVATIONS, SOIL MOISTURE PROBE	2015-07-13 to 2017-08-10	N: 62.5827 S: 60.5236 E: -111.367 W: -117.379	multiple
ABoVE: Post-Fire and Unburned Vegetation Community and Field Data, NWT, Canada, 2018	1	FIELD SURVEYS	SOIL MOISTURE PROBE, STEEL MEASURING TAPE	2018-08-12 to 2018-08-22	N: 62.5658 S: 60.4524 E: -113.42 W: -117.425	CSV
ABoVE: Post-Fire and Unburned Vegetation Community and Field Data, NWT, Canada, 2019	1	FIELD INVESTIGATION	SOIL MOISTURE PROBE, SOIL TEMPERATURE PROBE, SOIL DEPTH PROBE	2018-08-16 to 2019-09-05	N: 62.5658 S: 60.9206 E: -113.016 W: -117.425	CSV
ABoVE: Reflectance Spectra of Tundra Plant Communities across Northern Alaska	1	LABORATORY, FIELD SURVEYS	SPECTROMETERS	2017-07-18 to 2018-08-14	N: 71.3462 S: 65.4349 E: -145.515 W: -157.412	CSV
ABoVE: Riverbank Erosion and Vegetation Changes, Yukon River Basin, Alaska, 1984-2017	1	LANDSAT-5, LANDSAT-7, LANDSAT-8	TM, ETM+, OLI	1984-01-01 to 2017-12-31	N: 68.1463 S: 61.9076 E: -143.305 W: -161.459	multiple
ABoVE: Soil Active Layer Thaw Depths at CRREL sites near Fairbanks, Alaska, 2014-2018	1	FIELD SURVEYS, FIELD INVESTIGATION	SOIL DEPTH PROBE, VISUAL OBSERVATIONS	2014-10-15 to 2018-10-15	N: 64.9511 S: 64.8677 E: -147.612 W: -147.74	CSV
ABoVE: Soil Moisture and Active Layer Thickness in Alaska and NWT, Canada, 2008-2020	1	FIELD SURVEYS	PROBES, GPR, TDR	2008-06-22 to 2020-08-15	N: 71.3236 S: 60.4524 E: -111.368 W: -165.973	CSV
ABoVE: Soil Moisture and Active Layer Thickness in Alaska, USA and Canada, 2005-2022	1	FIELD SURVEYS	SOIL DEPTH PROBE, SOIL MOISTURE PROBE	2005-01-10 to 2022-09-28	N: 71.3236 S: 58.2077 E: -111.368 W: -165.974	CSV
ABoVE: Soil Moisture and ALT Field Collection Protocols and Probe Calibration	1	FIELD SURVEYS	SOIL DEPTH PROBE, SOIL MOISTURE PROBE, SURVEYING TOOLS	2015-01-01 to 2024-12-31	N: 81.6086 S: 39.415 E: -66.9178 W: -176.125	PDF
ABoVE: Soil Temperature and VWC at Unburned and Burned Sites Across Alaska, 2016-2023	1	FIELD SURVEYS	TEMPERATURE LOGGERS, TEMPERATURE SENSORS	2016-08-11 to 2023-09-02	N: 68.9908 S: 61.2701 E: -146.558 W: -163.239	CSV
ABoVE: Soil Temperature Profiles, USArray Seismic Stations, 2016-2021	1.1	FIELD INVESTIGATION	TEMPERATURE LOGGERS, SOIL TEMPERATURE PROBE	2016-05-13 to 2021-07-08	N: 71.0033 S: 59.2533 E: -141.594 W: -165.35	multiple
ABoVE: Soil Temperature Profiles, USArray Seismic Stations, AK and Canada, 2016-2019	1	FIELD SURVEYS	TEMPERATURE LOGGERS, TEMPERATURE SENSORS	2016-06-25 to 2019-08-22	N: 69.9175 S: 63.8864 E: -134.343 W: -163.178	CSV
ABoVE: Spatial Estimates of Carbon Combustion from Wildfires across SK, Canada, 2015	1	MODELS	Computer	2015-04-06 to 2015-08-11	N: 61.2389 S: 51.1943 E: -100.168 W: -116.055	GeoTIFF
ABoVE: Study Domain and Standard Reference Grids	1	FIELD SURVEYS	Computer	2014-01-01 to 2021-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
ABoVE: Study Domain and Standard Reference Grids, Version 2	2.1	FIELD SURVEYS	Computer	2014-01-01 to 2023-04-20	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	multiple
ABoVE: Subsistence Resource Use Areas of Interior Alaskan Communities, 2011-2017	1	FIELD SURVEYS	VISUAL OBSERVATIONS	2011-01-01 to 2017-12-31	N: 70.1477 S: 51.7133 E: -131.525 W: -176.646	Shapefile
ABoVE: Surface Water Extent, Boreal and Tundra Regions, North America, 1991-2011	1.1	LANDSAT-4, LANDSAT-5, LANDSAT-7	TM, ETM+	1990-01-01 to 2012-12-31	N: 82.3729 S: 41.7039 E: -53.9393 W: -177.475	GeoTIFF
ABoVE: Synthesis of Burned and Unburned Forest Site Data, AK and Canada, 1983-2016	1	MODELS, FIELD INVESTIGATION	Computer, PROBES, SOIL SAMPLER	1983-01-01 to 2016-08-08	N: 67.2297 S: 53.1911 E: -88.612 W: -150.902	CSV
ABoVE: Terrestrial Lidar Scanning Forest-Tundra Ecotone, Brooks Range, Alaska, 2016	1	FIELD SURVEYS	LIDAR	2016-06-14 to 2016-06-25	N: 68.0204 S: 67.9704 E: -149.715 W: -149.765	multiple
ABoVE: Thaw Depth at Selected Unburned and Burned Sites Across Alaska	1.0	FIELD SURVEYS	PROBES	2016-08-09 to 2018-08-28	N: 68.9911 S: 61.27 E: -146.558 W: -163.239	CSV
ABoVE: Tundra Plant Functional Type Continuous-Cover, North Slope, Alaska, 2010-2015	1	LANDSAT-5, LANDSAT-7, LANDSAT-8	TM, ETM+, OLI	2010-07-01 to 2015-08-31	N: 73.8004 S: 65.5858 E: -143.978 W: -167.476	multiple
ABoVE: TVPRM Simulated Net Ecosystem Exchange, Alaskan North Slope, 2008-2017	1	METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS, OCO-2, COMPUTERS, SATELLITES	TEMPERATURE SENSORS, THERMOMETERS, OCO SPECTROMETERS, Computer, MODIS	2008-01-01 to 2017-12-31	N: 77.2626 S: 56.0895 E: -128.592 W: -177.469	netCDF-4 classic
ABoVE: Upscaled Active Layer Thickness in Northern Alaska, 2014-2017	1	G-III	P-SAR	2014-01-01 to 2017-12-31	N: 74.7203 S: 59.3494 E: -133.048 W: -171.803	COG
ABoVE: Wetland Type, Slave River and Peace-Athabasca Deltas, Canada, 2007 and 2017	1	ALOS-2, LANDSAT-5, LANDSAT-8, Sentinel-1A, ERS-2, ALOS	PALSAR-2, IMAGING RADIOMETERS, PALSAR	2006-06-14 to 2019-05-28	N: 61.7919 S: 57.7746 E: -109.643 W: -115.291	multiple
ABoVE: Wildfire Carbon Emissions and Burned Plot Characteristics, NWT, CA, 2014-2016	1	MODELS, FIELD SURVEYS, LABORATORY	Computer, STEEL MEASURING TAPE, CARBON ANALYZERS	2014-07-02 to 2016-08-01	N: 71.6982 S: 56.2534 E: -102 W: -136.127	multiple

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