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Full catalog/PACE_OCI_L2_SFREFL
PACE_OCI_L2_SFREFL·v3.1·dataset

True surface color of the land (PACE)

PACE OCI Level-2 Regional Surface Reflectance Data, version 3.1
land NASA OB_CLOUD Level 2 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. The true color and brightness of the land surface as it would look with the haze of the atmosphere stripped away, recorded across 122 different wavelengths of light from violet through the near-infrared.

How it's made. Produced from the PACE satellite's Ocean Color Instrument by correcting raw light measurements to remove distortions added by the air.

How & where you'd use it. Serves as the starting ingredient for other land products like vegetation health indices, so it's mostly used as a building block rather than viewed on its own.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCELAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-03-05 → ongoing
  • Measured byPACE (OCI)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • 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

Surface Reflectance (SFREFL) provides the unitless, bottom-of-atmosphere reflectance of the Earth's surface at 122 wavelengths (346 - 895 nm, with 5 SWIR bands). Surface Reflectance is the foundational input for downstream land products (e.g., vegetation indices included in the LANDVI suite). Users should review the documentation for more information on atmospheric correction and quality flags. Users should also note that the L3M product is masked for clouds. Geophysical variables in this suite include: - rhos – Surface reflectance (unitless) - l2_flags — Level-2 Processing Flags (bitmask)

Get the data

pace_oci_l2_sfrefl_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PACE_OCI_L2_SFREFL",
    version="3.1",
    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 OB_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.