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Full catalog/MI1B2T
MI1B2T·v004·dataset

Multi-angle camera images mapped onto terrain (MISR)

MISR Level 1B2 Terrain Data V004
land NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 1B active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. How much light the sensor recorded at the top of the atmosphere, captured from nine different viewing angles in blue, green, red, and near-infrared, with the images draped accurately over Earth's terrain.

How it's made. Collected by the MISR instrument on the Terra satellite, which views each spot from nine camera angles as it flies over, then geometrically corrected and matched to surface elevation.

How & where you'd use it. Used to study airborne particles, distinguish cloud and surface types, and map vegetation structure. As a calibrated radiance product it is mainly a building block for higher-level analyses.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE IMAGERYSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHSSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE RADIANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1999-12-18 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MISR)
  • Processing levelLevel 1B
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • 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

MI1B2T_004 is the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Level 1B2 Terrain Data Version 4 product. It contains Terrain-projected Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) Radiance, resampled at the surface, and topographically corrected and geometrically corrected by PGE22. Data collection for this product is ongoing. MISR is an instrument designed to view Earth with cameras pointed in 9 different directions. As the instrument flies overhead, each piece of Earth's surface below is successfully imaged by all nine cameras in 4 wavelengths (blue, green, red, and near-infrared). MISR aims to improve our understanding of the effects of sunlight on Earth and distinguish different types of clouds, particles, and surfaces. Specifically, MISR monitors the monthly, seasonal, and long-term trends in three areas: 1) amount and type of atmospheric particles (aerosols), including those formed by natural sources and by human activities; 2) amounts, types, and heights of clouds, and 3) distribution of land surface cover, including vegetation canopy structure.

Get the data

mi1b2t_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MI1B2T",
    version="004",
    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.