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Full catalog/eMASL2CLD
eMASL2CLD·v1·dataset

Cloud properties from a high-flying aircraft sensor (eMAS)

Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) L2 Cloud Data
land NASA LAADS Level 2 HDF-EOS
In plain English

What it measures. Cloud properties such as the chance of clear sky, whether clouds are ice or liquid water, cloud thickness, and droplet size.

How it's made. Derived from infrared and near-infrared light recorded by the eMAS sensor flown aboard NASA's high-altitude ER-2 aircraft during field campaigns.

How & where you'd use it. Used in airborne research campaigns to study clouds up close and to test and calibrate satellite cloud measurements.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › INFRARED IMAGERYSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE IMAGERYSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › INFRARED RADIANCESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE RADIANCESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › REFLECTED INFRARED

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2013-08-01 → 2019-08-22
  • Measured byNASA ER-2 (eMAS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -35, 180, 80
  • FormatsHDF-EOS
  • StatusCOMPLETE

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 Enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (eMAS)instrument is maintained and operated by the Airborne Sensor Facility at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, under the oversight of the EOS Project Science Office at NASA Goddard. The eMAS instrument is now a 38-channel instrument, sensing in the range from 0.445 to 13.844 um. The Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) L2 Cloud Data product (eMASL2CLD) consists of cloud optical and physical parameters. These parameters are derived using remotely sensed infrared and near infrared solar reflected radiances. Multispectral images of the reflectance and brightness temperature at 10 wavelengths between 0.66 and 13.98nm were used to derive the probability of clear sky (or cloud), cloud thermodynamic phase, and the optical thickness and effective radius of liquid water and ice clouds. The eMASL2CLD product files are stored in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS). All gridded cloud parameters are stored as Scientific Data Sets (SDS) within the file. Visit ladsweb page for more information and for campaign flights' [list](https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/mas/)

Get the data

emasl2cld_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="eMASL2CLD",
    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 LAADS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.