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Full catalog/AVIRIS-Classic_L2_Reflectance_2154
AVIRIS-Classic_L2_Reflectance_2154·v1·dataset

True surface colors from a classic aircraft sensor

AVIRIS-Classic: L2 Calibrated Reflectance, Facility Instrument Collection, V1
land NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 2 active multiple
In plain English

What it measures. The true reflected colors of Earth's surface measured across 224 narrow wavelength bands from visible light into shortwave infrared, with the data corrected for terrain and atmosphere.

How it's made. Collected by NASA's AVIRIS-Classic imaging spectrometer flown on aircraft like the Twin Otter, WB-57, and high-altitude ER-2, then processed into calibrated surface reflectance images.

How & where you'd use it. Used by Earth scientists for detailed studies of vegetation, minerals, water, and surface materials; the fine spectral detail makes it valuable for mapping what surfaces are made of.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › WATER VAPOR

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2008-06-11 → ongoing
  • Measured byNOAA Twin Otter (AVIRIS) · NASA ER-2 (AVIRIS) · NASA WB-57F (AVIRIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-171.842, 18.5747, -81.0205, 48.6945
  • Formatsmultiple
  • 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

This dataset contains Level 2 (L2) orthocorrected reflectance from the Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-Classic) instrument. This is the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) facility instrument archive of these data. The NASA AVIRIS-Classic is a pushbroom spectral mapping system with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), designed and toleranced for high performance spectroscopy. AVIRIS-Classic measures reflected radiance in 224 contiguous bands at approximately 10-nm intervals in the Visible to Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR) spectral range from 400-2500 nm. The AVIRIS-Classic sensor has a 1 milliradian instantaneous field of view, providing altitude dependent ground sampling distances from 20 m to sub meter range. AVIRIS-Classic is flown on a variety of aircraft platforms including the Twin Otter, NASA's WB-57, and NASA's high altitude ER-2. For each flight line, two types of L2 data files may be included: (a) calibrated surface reflectance and (b) water vapor and optical absorption paths for liquid water and ice. The L2 data are provided in ENVI format, which includes a flat binary file accompanied by a header (.hdr) file holding metadata in text format. This archive currently includes data from 2008 - 2025. Additional AVIRIS-Classic facility instrument L2 data will be added as they become available. AVIRIS-Classic supports NASA Science and applications in many areas including plant composition and function, geology and soils, greenhouse gas mapping, and calibration of orbital platforms.

Get the data

aviris-classic_l2_reflectance_2154_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AVIRIS-Classic_L2_Reflectance_2154",
    version="1",
    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 ORNL_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.