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Full catalog/MIL3DAEN
MIL3DAEN·v004·dataset

Haze, dust and smoke in the air (MISR, daily)

MISR Level 3 Component Global Aerosol product in netCDF format covering a day V004
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 3 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. A daily global summary of how much haze, dust, and smoke is in the air, expressed as how strongly airborne particles dim sunlight at a green wavelength, plus a breakdown of what kinds of particles are present. It is reported in half-degree squares.

How it's made. Produced by averaging a day's worth of detailed readings from the MISR instrument on the Terra satellite, which views each spot from nine different camera angles in four colors.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for monitoring air pollution and dust, distinguishing particle types, and feeding climate and air-quality studies.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD AMOUNT

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1999-12-18 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MISR)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • 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

This file contains the MISR Level 3 Component Global Aerosol product in netCDF format covering a day. MIL3DAEN_004 is the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Level 3 Component Global Aerosol product in netCDF format covering a day version 4 data product. It contains a statistical summary of column aerosol 555-nanometer optical depth and a monthly aerosol compositional type frequency histogram. This data product is a global summary of the Level 2 aerosol parameters of interest averaged over a day and reported on a geographic grid with a resolution of 0.5 degrees by 0.5 degrees. Data collection for this product is ongoing. 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. 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 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

mil3daen_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MIL3DAEN",
    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.