Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/MIL2TCCF
MIL2TCCF·v002·dataset

Quick-look sorting of clouds vs clear sky (MISR)

MISR Level 2 FIRSTLOOK TOA/Cloud Classifier parameters V002
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. A first, quick-look sorting of each scene into cloud versus clear sky, plus cloud-classification results, from an instrument that views Earth from nine different camera angles.

How it's made. Produced from the MISR instrument on the Terra satellite, whose nine cameras photograph the same ground in four colors; this early 'FIRSTLOOK' version uses preliminary background data and is meant for fast turnaround.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for rapid screening of clouds and clear sky soon after observation; being a quick-look product, it is generally superseded by more carefully processed versions for detailed study.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › CLOUDSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1999-12-18 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MISR)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (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 successively imaged by all 9 cameras, in each of 4 wavelengths (blue, green, red, and near-infrared). The goal of MISR is to improve our understanding of the fate of sunlight in Earth environment, as well as 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. MISR Level 2 FIRSTLOOK TOA/Cloud Classifier parameters V002 contains the Angular Signature Cloud Mask (ASCM), Cloud Classifiers, and Support Vector Machine classifiers, produced using ancillary inputs and Terrestrial Atmosphere and Surface Climatology (TASC) from the previous time period.

Get the data

mil2tccf_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MIL2TCCF",
    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.