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Full catalog/PREFIRE_SAT2_AUX-SAT
PREFIRE_SAT2_AUX-SAT·vR01·dataset

Support orbit and pointing data for PREFIRE satellite 2

PREFIRE Auxiliary Satellite Data for PREFIRE Satellite 2 R01
land NASA LARC_CLOUD Level NA active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. A supporting bookkeeping file that pulls in matching information — such as the type of surface (ice, water, land) beneath each view — from other satellites, lined up with each PREFIRE measurement.

How it's made. Assembled by extracting and co-locating data from instruments on other satellites (including VIIRS and Aqua) to match each footprint of PREFIRE Satellite 2's infrared spectrometer.

How & where you'd use it. A behind-the-scenes input used to build PREFIRE's higher-level products on polar heat loss; most people would use those finished products rather than this auxiliary file directly.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND/OCEAN/ICE FRACTIONCLIMATE INDICATORS › CRYOSPHERIC INDICATORS › SEA ICE CONCENTRATIONCLIMATE INDICATORS › CRYOSPHERIC INDICATORS › SNOW COVER

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-06-29 → ongoing
  • Measured byNOAA-20 (VIIRS) · Suomi-NPP (VIIRS) · GCOM-W1 (AMSR2) · DMSP 5D-3/F18 (SSMIS) · PREFIRE-SAT2 (TIRS-PREFIRE)
  • Processing levelLevel NA
  • Spatial extent-180, -84, 180, 84
  • 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

PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment) Auxiliary Satellite Data for PREFIRE Satellite 2 contains data fields extracted from external satellite datasets for each coincident PREFIRE Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIRS-PREFIRE) field of view, which is then used to process PREFIRE Level 2 and 3 products. Dual CubeSats each carry a TIRS-PREFIRE, a push broom spectrometer with 63 channels measuring mid- and far-infrared (FIR) radiation from approximately 5 to 53 µm. Most polar emissions are in the FIR but have not been measured on a large scale. PREFIRE aims to fill knowledge gaps in the global energy budget by more accurately characterizing polar emissions. This information will then be assimilated into global circulation and other models to predict future conditions more accurately.This collection contains surface-type information from VIIRS, Aqua, and NISE (SSMIS). Its primary purpose is to provide surface type information for the PREFIRE Level 2 spectral flux product (PREFIRE_SAT2_2B-FLX) and the Level 3 surface emissivity product (PREFIRE_SAT2_3-SFC-SORTED-ALLSKY), which is sorted by surface type. Science data retrieval started June 29, 2024 and is ongoing. Geographic coverage is global, with the greatest concentration of data in the polar regions. Within the orbital swath there are eight distinct tracks of data associated with the eight separate spatial scenes for each PREFIRE-TIRS. At the beginning of the mission, the approximate scene footprint sizes were 11.8 km x 34.8 km (cross-track x along-track), with gaps between each scene of approximately 24.2 km. The entire swath was ~264 km across. Note that the scene footprint and swath sizes quoted here are for the orbit altitude soon after launch. However, the footprint size will slowly become smaller as the orbit altitude decreases with time. This data has a temporal resolution of 0.707 seconds and is available in netCDF-4.The auxiliary satellite data for the sister instrument aboard PREFIRE-SAT1 can be found in the PREFIRE_SAT1_AUX-SAT collection.

Get the data

prefire_sat2_aux-sat_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PREFIRE_SAT2_AUX-SAT",
    version="R01",
    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.