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Full catalog/AST_L1BE
AST_L1BE·v003·dataset

Quick-turnaround calibrated raw imagery (ASTER)

ASTER Expedited L1B Registered Radiance at the Sensor V003
land NASA LPDAAC_ECS Level 1B active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Calibrated raw imagery of how much light and heat the sensor recorded across visible, near-infrared, shortwave-infrared, and thermal bands, with the images carefully aligned to each other and to the ground.

How it's made. Produced from the ASTER instrument on Terra as a quick-turnaround version available within 48 hours, trading some alignment precision for speed (and its thermal bands ended in January 2026 when that part of the instrument was switched off).

How & where you'd use it. Built for time-sensitive needs like disaster damage assessment and field calibration campaigns, where getting imagery within two days matters more than top-grade registration.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › REFLECTED INFRAREDSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › THERMAL INFRAREDSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE IMAGERYSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE RADIANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-03-04 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (ASTER)
  • Processing levelLevel 1B
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS2
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Expedited Level 1B Registered Radiance at the Sensor global 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 Expedited Level 1B data product is similar to the ([AST_L1B](https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/AST_L1B.003)) with a few notable exceptions. These include: * The AST_L1BE is available for download within 48 hours of acquisition in support of field calibration and validation efforts, in addition to emergency response for natural disasters where the quick turn-around time from acquisition to availability would prove beneficial in initial damage or impact assessments. * The registration quality of the AST_L1BE is likely to be lower than the AST_L1B, and may vary from scene to scene. * The AST_L1BE dataset does not contain the VNIR 3B (aft-viewing) Band. * This dataset does not have short-term calibration for the Thermal Infrared (TIR) sensor. Known Issues * TIR bands: Acquisitions for TIR bands ended on January 16, 2026, at 05:10:45 UTC, when the ASTER TIR instrument was permanently turned off due to power limitations on the Terra spacecraft. More information is available in this [NASA Science News Brief](https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/science-news/2026/02/12/terra-adjusts-instrument-operations-to-extend-mission-life/). * 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. * SWIR bands: ASTER SWIR detectors are no longer functioning as of January 12, 2009, due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures. * SWIR anomaly: Users are advised that ASTER SWIR data acquired from April 2008 to January 11, 2009, 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](https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/documents/1661/ASTER_SWIR_User_Advisory_Jan_12_2009.pdf) for more details.

Get the data

ast_l1be_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AST_L1BE",
    version="003",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LPDAAC_ECS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.