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Full catalog/MI1AOBC
MI1AOBC·v002·dataset

Onboard calibration data for the MISR camera (Terra)

MISR OBC Data V002
land NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 1A active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Onboard calibration readings from the MISR camera system on the Terra satellite, including light measurements from internal diodes and mechanical position readings taken during calibration.

How it's made. Collected by MISR's own calibration hardware as Terra passed over the poles and the dark side of Earth, recorded at an early Level 1A stage.

How & where you'd use it. A technical, behind-the-scenes product used to keep MISR's nine cameras accurately calibrated; it underpins the real science imagery rather than being used directly.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › SENSOR CHARACTERISTICSSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › PLATFORM CHARACTERISTICS

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2003-07-30 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MISR)
  • Processing levelLevel 1A
  • 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

MI1AOBC_002 is the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) OBC Data version 2. This file contains the output for the Level 1A On-board Calibrator Data, and it provides the radiometry from PIN and HQE diodes and goniometer mechanism readings collected during calibration mode operations near the north and south poles and over the dark side of the Earth (or during science mode operations over the sunlit side of the Earth). The diode radiometry acquired during the north and south pole calibration sequences will be used to determine an MISR diffuser panel's brightness and reflective characteristics as observed by each of the nine MISR cameras. The MISR instrument consists of nine push-broom cameras that measure radiance in four spectral bands. Global coverage is achieved in nine days. The cameras are arranged with one camera pointing toward the nadir, four forward, and four aftward. It takes seven minutes for all nine cameras to view the same surface location. The view angles relative to the surface reference ellipsoid are 0, 26.1, 45.6, 60.0, and 70.5 degrees. The spectral band shapes are nominally Gaussian, centered at 443, 555, 670, and 865 nm.

Get the data

mi1aobc_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MI1AOBC",
    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 LARC_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.