ORNL DAAC Data Release - Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx)

by **ORNL - mtdonova** » Tue Oct 06, 2026 5:30 pm America/New_York

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) released new datasets and data files for the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx) campaign. GEMx data products were collected as part of the following facility instrument deployments: Airborne Visible/InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer - 5th Generation (AVIRIS-5), Airborne Visible/InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer - Classic (AVIRIS-C), and the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER).

The following datasets represent deployments performed solely in support of GEMx:

MASTER: Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), Summer 2025
This dataset includes Level 1B (L1B) data products from the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument. The spectral data were collected during 29 flights aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft over California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, US, from 2025-05-23 to 2025-09-23. 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.
Hook, S. J., Myers, J. S., Thome, K. J., Fitzgerald, M., Kahle, A. B., Airborne Sensor Facility NASA Ames Research Center, Hoefen, T., & Kokaly, R. F. (2025). MASTER: Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), Summer 2025 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2472

MASTER: Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), Spring 2026
This dataset includes Level 1B (L1B) data products from the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument. Spectral data were collected during 10 flights aboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft over California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, US, from 2026-03-17 to 2026-04-24. 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.
Hook, S. J., Myers, J. S., Thome, K. J., Fitzgerald, M., Kahle, A. B., Airborne Sensor Facility NASA Ames Research Center, Hoefen, T., & Kokaly, R. F. (2026). MASTER: Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx), Spring 2026 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2513

The following facility instrument collections contain files from many projects, but new GEMx files have been added to them:

AVIRIS-5 L1B Calibrated Radiance, Facility Instrument Collection
This dataset contains Level 1B (L1B) calibrated radiance images as well as observational geometry and illumination parameters from the Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-5 (AVIRIS-5) instrument. For each flight line, two file types are included: calibrated radiance (RDN) and orthocorrected observation geometry and illumination (ORT) in netCDF format. Both file types include a geolocation lookup table (GLT) for georeferencing pixels in UTM and geographic coordinates.
Eckert, R., Thompson, D. R., Chlus, A. M., Chapman, J. W., Eastwood, M., Bernas, M., Geier, S., Keymeulen, D., Sullivan, P., Olson-Duvall, W., Greenberg, E., Green, R. O., & Brodrick, P. G. (2026). AVIRIS-5 L1B Calibrated Radiance, Facility Instrument Collection (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2483

AVIRIS-5 L2A Orthocorrected Surface Reflectance, Facility Instrument Collection
This dataset contains Level 2A (L2A) surface reflectance images from the Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-5 (AVIRIS-5) instrument. Surface hemispherical directional reflectance was derived from calibrated radiance using an optimal estimation algorithm. For each flight line, two file types are included: orthocorrected surface reflectance (RFL_ORT) and orthocorrected reflectance uncertainty (UNC_ORT) in NetCDF format.
Brodrick, P. G., Chlus, A. M., Bohn, N., Greenberg, E., Montgomery, J., Chapman, J. W., Eastwood, M., Lundeen, S. R., Eckert, R., Olson-Duvall, W., Thompson, D. R., & Green, R. O. (2026). AVIRIS-5 L2A Orthocorrected Surface Reflectance, Facility Instrument Collection (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2484

AVIRIS-5 L2B Greenhouse Gas Enhancements, Facility Instrument Collection
This dataset contains Level 2B (L2B) enhancements of greenhouse gases (GHG) derived from imagery collected by the Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-5 (AVIRIS-5) instrument. Products include methane and carbon dioxide enhancements, each with per-pixel uncertainties and sensitivities to the background. Concentrations are estimated from radiance measurements enhanced using a column-wise adaptive matched filter approach, which searches each pixel's radiance spectrum for deviations that are characteristic of a GHG's absorption spectrum. GHG data are provided in cloud optimized GeoTIFF (COG) format.
Thorpe, A. K., Fahlen, J., Chlus, A. M., Brodrick, P. G., Chapman, J. W., Jensen, D. J., Coleman, R. W., Olson-Duvall, W., Thompson, D. R., & Green, R. O. (2026). AVIRIS-5 L2B Greenhouse Gas Enhancements, Facility Instrument Collection (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2485

AVIRIS-Classic: L1B Calibrated Radiance, Facility Instrument Collection, V1
This dataset contains Level 1B (L1B) orthocorrected, scaled radiance image files as well as files of observational geometry and illumination parameters and supporting sensor band information from the Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-Classic) instrument. AVIRIS-Classic measures reflected radiance in 224 contiguous bands at approximately 10-nm intervals in the Visible to Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR) spectral range from 400-2500 nm. Multiple file types are included for each flight line. The primary data files include: orthocorrected calibrated radiance image (img) files, geometric lookup table (glt) and orthocorrected observation geometry and illumination (obs_ort) files. This archive currently includes data from 2004, and 2006 - 2025.
Green, R. O., Thompson, D. R., Boardman, J. W., Chapman, J. W., Eastwood, M., Helmlinger, M., Lundeen, S. R., & Olson-Duvall, W. (2023). AVIRIS-Classic: L1B Calibrated Radiance, Facility Instrument Collection, V1 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2155

AVIRIS-Classic: L2 Calibrated Reflectance, Facility Instrument Collection, V1
This dataset contains Level 2 (L2) orthocorrected reflectance from the Airborne Visible / Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-Classic) instrument. AVIRIS-Classic measures reflected radiance in 224 contiguous bands at approximately 10-nm intervals in the Visible to Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR) spectral range from 400-2500 nm. For each flight line, two types of L2 data files may be included: (a) calibrated surface reflectance and (b) water vapor and optical absorption paths for liquid water and ice. This archive currently includes data from 2008 - 2025.
Green, R. O., Thompson, D. R., Boardman, J. W., Chapman, J. W., Eastwood, M., Helmlinger, M., Lundeen, S. R., & Olson-Duvall, W. (2023). AVIRIS-Classic: L2 Calibrated Reflectance, Facility Instrument Collection, V1 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2154

MASTER: Level 2 Emissivity and Land Surface Temperature
This dataset includes Level 2 (L2) land surface temperature (LST) and spectral emissivity data products derived from the thermal infrared (TIR) bands from the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument. The L2 TIR data products were derived from L1B georeferenced multispectral imagery of calibrated radiance in the TIR bands (8 - 13 micrometers) at 5 to 50-meter spatial resolution (altitude dependent). Derived L2 data products are the LST and spectral emissivity in six bands (42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49) that fall within atmospheric windows regions of the TIR.
Hulley, G. C., Hook, S. J., La, T. T., & Rivera, G. (2026). MASTER: Level 2 Emissivity and Land Surface Temperature (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2489

MASTER: Image Overlays for Level 2 Emissivity and Land Surface Temperature
This dataset includes georeferenced image overlays for Level 2 (L2) emissivity and land surface temperature data products derived from the thermal infrared (TIR) bands from the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument.
Hulley, G. C., Hook, S. J., La, T. T., & Rivera, G. (2026). MASTER: Image Overlays for Level 2 Emissivity and Land Surface Temperature (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2487

MASTER: Quicklook Images for Level 2 Emissivity and Land Surface Temperature
This dataset holds quicklook images for Level 2 (L2) emissivity and land surface temperature data products derived from the thermal infrared (TIR) bands from the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) instrument.
Hulley, G. C., Hook, S. J., La, T. T., & Rivera, G. (2026). MASTER: Quicklook Images for Level 2 Emissivity and Land Surface Temperature (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2488

More information on these datasets and others like it can be found on the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx) campaign landing page.