Where surface minerals are found worldwide (EMIT, 0.5 degree)
What it measures. Global maps showing where ten key surface minerals are found, focused on dry, dusty regions, along with how confident the estimates are.
How it's made. Built from the EMIT instrument on the International Space Station, which uses imaging spectroscopy to read the colors of sunlit ground, then aggregated into a half-degree global map from EMIT's mineral-identification data.
How & where you'd use it. Useful for understanding the makeup of dust that blows off arid lands, which affects air quality, climate, and even ocean fertilization, and for geology and soil studies more broadly.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2022-08-10 → 2024-01-20
- Measured byISS (EMIT Imaging Spectrometer)
- Processing levelLevel 3
- Spatial extent-165, -54.5, 179.5, 55
- FormatsnetCDF-4
- 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 Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument measures surface mineralogy, targeting the Earth’s arid dust source regions. EMIT is installed on the International Space Station (ISS) and uses imaging spectroscopy to take measurements of the sunlit regions of interest between 52° N latitude and 52° S latitude. An interactive map showing the regions being investigated, current and forecasted data coverage, and additional data resources can be found on the VSWIR Imaging Spectroscopy Interface for Open Science (VISIONS) [EMIT Open Data Portal](https://earth.jpl.nasa.gov/emit/data/data-portal/coverage-and-forecasts/). The EMIT Level 3 Aggregated Mineral Spectral Abundance and Uncertainty (EMITL3ASA) Version 2 data product provides an aggregated mineral spectral abundance of the 10 minerals that are the focus of the EMIT mission. These minerals, referred to as the EMIT-10 minerals, are calcite, chlorite, dolomite, goethite, gypsum, hematite, illite+muscovite, kaolinite, montmorillonite, and vermiculite. The EMITL3ASA granule consists of one Network Common Data Format 4 (netCDF-4) file at a spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees. The data in EMITL3ASA relies heavily on the EMIT L2B Estimated Mineral Identification and Band Depth and Uncertainty ([EMITL2BMIN](https://doi.org/10.5067/EMIT/EMITL2BMIN.001)) data. Using the EMITL2BMIN data, aggregated spectral abundance (ASA) and uncertainty is calculated within each 0.5 degree grid cell in the EMITL3ASA product for each of the EMIT-10 minerals. Grainsize was determined to be the strongest contributor to abundance variation, and as such layers calculated using the 2.5 and 97.5 percentile confidence interval of the grainsize are provided for use in uncertainty quantification. The EMITL3ASA data product contains 30 Science Dataset (SDS) layers. There are three layers for each of the EMIT-10 minerals: one layer containing mineral spectral abundance and two layers for uncertainty quantification containing mineral spectral abundance at 2.5 and 97.5 percentile confidence intervals of grainsize. The latitude and longitude layers contain the coordinates for the upper left corner of each pixel. Known Issues * Minor Abundance Estimate Discrepancy. A transcription error in the grain-size median prediction caused a minor discrepancy in the EMITL3ASA Version 2 mineral spectral abundance estimates. The issue caused deviations well within the uncertainty estimates, typically far below 1%. The most affected estimate is calcite, with maximum deviations reaching 2% for a very small number of pixels. Iron oxides are virtually unaffected.
Get the data
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="EMITL3ASA",
version="002",
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 LPCLOUD Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package. Official links
- Earthdata Search allows users to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data. GET DATA
- The ATBD provides physical theory and mathematical procedures for the calculations used to produce the data products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- The technical information in the User's Guide enables users to interpret and use the data products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- EMIT Level 3 science data system repository. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- The LP DAAC GitHub repository provides guides, Python notebooks, and scripts to help users access and work with data from the EMIT mission. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- EMIT data E-Learning resources provided by NASA's LP DAAC. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION