ORNL DAAC Data Release - MASTER: Western Diversity Time Series Campaign, WDTS, Spring 2025

[ORNL - blancohl]

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) released a new dataset for the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) project in December (2025).

MASTER: Western Diversity Time Series Campaign, WDTS, Spring 2025

This dataset includes Level 1B (L1B) and Level 2 (L2) data products from the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument. Data products include L1B georeferenced multispectral imagery of calibrated radiance in 50 bands covering wavelengths of 0.460 to 12.879 micrometers at approximately 50-meter spatial resolution. Derived L2 data products are emissivity in five bands in thermal infrared range (8.58 to 12.13 micrometers) and land surface temperature. The L1B file format is HDF-4, and L2 products are provided in HDF-5 and KMZ formats. In addition, the dataset includes the flight path, spectral band information, instrument configuration, ancillary notes, and summary information for each flight, and browse images derived from each L1B data file.

The spectral data were collected as part of the Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS, formerly HyspIRI) airborne campaign during seven flights aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft over California and Nevada, U.S., from 2025-05-27 to 2025-07-17. The WDTS campaign will observe California's ecosystems and provide critical information on natural disasters such as volcanoes, wildfires, and drought. MASTER products can identify vegetation type and health and provide a benchmark for the state of the ecosystems against which future changes can be assessed.

In 2026, the L2 files will be moved to a new dataset containing all updated L2 products for MASTER.

The MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) is a scanning spectrometer which flies on a variety of multi-altitude research aircraft and provides data similar to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). MASTER first flew in 1998 and has ongoing deployments as a Facility Instrument in the NASA Airborne Science Program (ASP). MASTER is a joint project involving the Airborne Sensor Facility (ASF) at the Ames Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS).

Citation:
Hook, S. J., Myers, J. S., Thome, K. J., Fitzgerald, M., Kahle, A. B., Airborne Sensor Facility NASA Ames Research Center, & Green, R. O. (2025). MASTER: Western Diversity Time Series Campaign, WDTS, Spring 2025 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2471