Cloud heights and how fast they move (MISR)
What it measures. The height of clouds and how fast and which way they are moving, worked out by viewing clouds from multiple angles.
How it's made. Derived from the multi-angle MISR camera system on NASA's Terra satellite, which sees each scene from nine directions and uses the differences (stereo) to compute cloud heights and motion.
How & where you'd use it. Useful for studying cloud structure, winds at cloud level, and how clouds behave, which supports weather and climate research.
What's measured
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 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). The goal of MISR is to improve our understanding of the fate of sunlight in Earth's environment 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. MISR Level 2 TOA/Cloud Height and Motion parameters V002 contains the Stereo Heights, Stereoscopically Derived Cloud Mask (SDCM), and Cloud Motion Vectors with associated data.
Get the data
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="MIL2TCSP",
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_CLOUDBrowsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.