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Overview of Datasets

James Conklin
  • Updated

Datasets available in Earth OnDemand:

MCD43A4 NBAR

MODIS/Terra and Aqua Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance Daily L3 Global 500 m SIN Grid V006

Uses: Best for long-timescale, low-resolution scientific analysis
Pros: long timescale of data (over 20 years), daily revisit rate, high-quality scientific product
Cons: low-resolution compared to modern satellites
Years: 1999-present
Resolution: 500m
Coverage: Global
Bands/Layers: Red, green, blue, near infrared, shortwave infrared, and a QA layer for each band
Projection: Sinusoidal
Gridding: Sinusoidal Tile Grid
Revisit rate: 1 day

This data set is a low-resolution representation of the reflection of light off the land surface of the Earth. The data is composited over a 16-day window from sensors on two satellites, Aqua and Terra.

The data is gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). When the sensor was launched in 1999, 500m resolution was considered "moderate" but is now the lowest of any widely-used imagery data set. The importance of MODIS is that, even though it is low-resolution and in an uncommon projection, it is the longest continually-operating pair of instruments that produce public data.

More information about MODIS MCD43A4 can be found here:
https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/mcd43a4v006/

Detailed product information: MODIS User Guide V006 https://www.umb.edu/spectralmass/terra_aqua_modis/v006

More information about the MODIS MCD43A4 Open Data set cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here: https://registry.opendata.aws/modis-astraea/

General information about MODIS can be found at:
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderate_Resolution_Imaging_Spectroradiometer

MOD11A1 LST/ MYD11A1 LST

MOD11A1 LST: MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid V006
MYD11A1 LST: MODIS/Aqua Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid V006

Uses: Best for long-timescale, low-resolution scientific analysis
Pros: 
Cons:
Years: 1999-present
Resolution: 1000m
Coverage: Global
Bands/Layers: Daytime/nighttime Land Surface Temperature and various QA and metadata layers
Projection: Sinusoidal
Gridding: Sinusoidal Tile Grid
Revisit rate: 1 day

This data set is a low-resolution representation of the surface temperature of the Earth on a single day. MOD11A1 LST is the data from the Terra satellite and MYD11A1 LST is the data from the Aqua satellite.

The data is gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). When the sensor was launched in 1999, 500m resolution was considered "moderate" but is now the lowest of any widely-used imagery data set. The importance of MODIS is that, even though it is low-resolution and in an uncommon projection, it is the longest continually-operating pair of instruments that produce public data.

More information about MODIS MxD11A1 can be found here:
https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/mod11a1v006/
https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/myd11a1v006/

Detailed product information: Collection-6 MODIS Land Surface Temperature Products Users' Guide https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/documents/118/MOD11_User_Guide_V6.pdf

More information about the MODIS MxD11A1 Open Data set cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here: https://registry.opendata.aws/modis-astraea/

General information about MODIS can be found at:
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderate_Resolution_Imaging_Spectroradiometer

MOD13A1 VI/ MYD13A1 VI

MOD13A1 VI: MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 500 m SIN Grid V006
MYD13A1 VI: MODIS/Aqua Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 500 m SIN Grid V00

Uses: Best for long-timescale, low-resolution scientific analysis
Pros: long timescale of data, over 20 years
Cons: low-resolution compared to modern satellites
Years: 1999-present
Resolution: 500m
Coverage: Global
Bands/Layers: NDVI, EVI, their components, and various QA and metadata layers
Projection: Sinusoidal
Gridding: Sinusoidal Tile Grid
Revisit rate: 1 day

This data set is a low-resolution representation of vegetation on the Earth, specifically the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI). MOD13A1 VI is the data from the Terra satellite and MYD13A1 VI is the data from the Aqua satellite.

The data is gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). When the sensor was launched in 1999, 500m resolution was considered "moderate" but is now the lowest of any widely-used imagery data set. The importance of MODIS is that, even though it is low-resolution and in an uncommon projection, it is the longest continually-operating pair of instruments that produce public data.

More information about MODIS MOD13A1 can be found here:
https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/mod13a1v006/
https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/myd13a1v006/

Detailed product information: MODIS Vegetation Index User’s Guide (MOD13 Series) https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/documents/103/MOD13_User_Guide_V6.pdf

More information about the MODIS MOD13A1 Open Data set cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here: https://registry.opendata.aws/modis-astraea/

General information about MODIS can be found at:
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderate_Resolution_Imaging_Spectroradiometer

Landsat 8 - Level 1

Uses: Best for general-purpose scientific or visual analysis
Pros: best blend of resolution, revisit rate, bands, and historical data
Cons: not the highest resolution, revisit rate, bands, or historical data
Years: 2013-present
Resolution: 30m
Coverage: Global
Bands/Layers: red, green, blue, near infrared, shortwave infrared, thermal infrared, coastal/aerosol, cirrus, panchromatic, and QA layer
Projection: UTM/WGS84
Gridding: Proprietary row/path
Revisit rate: 16 days

Landsat 8 is the latest generation in the series of Landsat satellites. Landsat 1 was launched in 1972, and successive generations of satellites continued the mission. Landsat 8 carries two sensors, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS).

This data set is of the Collection 1 Level-1 Precision Terrain images. This product represents a view of the Earth that has been orthorectified to account for the angle the image was taken at, the angle of the sun when it was taken, and the elevation of the terrain, then projected to a UTM zone, and gridded into a proprietary row/path scheme.

More information about Landsat 8 can be found here:

https://www.usgs.gov/land-resources/nli/landsat
https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/usgs-eros-archive-landsat-archives-landsat-8-oli-operational-land-imager-and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsat_8

Detailed:Landsat 8 Data Users Handbook: https://www.usgs.gov/media/files/landsat-8-data-users-handbook

More information about the Landsat 8 Open Data set cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here: https://registry.opendata.aws/landsat-8/

Sentinel-1 Level-1C GRD

Uses: Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) applications

Pros: high-quality SAR product, can see through clouds

Cons: not an optical representation of the Earth

Years: 2017-present

Resolution: 5 to 20m

Coverage: Global

Bands/Layers: VV, VH, HH, HV

Projection: EPSG:4326

Gridding: none

Revisit rate: 6 days

Sentinel-1 is a mission supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) currently consisting of two satellites of a planned four satellite constellation. The satellites carry a C-band synthetic-aperture radar instrument.

More information about Sentinel-1 from the ESA can be found here.

General information about Sentinel-1 can be found here.

Sentinel-2 Level-1C

Uses: Best for scientific analysis only requiring data collected since 2015 and that does not need atmospheric correction
Pros: highest-resolution scientific product publicly available
Cons: not atmospherically corrected, limited historical data (though longer than Sentinel-2 L2A)
Years: 2015-present
Resolution: 10m
Coverage: Global
Bands/Layers: red, green, blue, near infrared, shortwave infrared, vegetation red edge, water vapor, costal aerosol, true color image
Projection: UTM/WGS84
Gridding: UTM Zone + latitude band + Military Grid Reference System (MGRS)
Revisit rate: 5 days

Sentinel-2 is a mission supported by the European Space Agency consisting of two satellites carrying a MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI). The Level-1C (L1C) product represents a view of the Earth that has been orthorectified to account for the angle the image was taken at, the angle of the sun when it was taken, and the elevation of the terrain, and gridded into MGRS scenes. It is a "top of atmosphere" product, meaning that no correction for the existence of air between the sensor and the ground has been performed.

More information about Sentinel-2 L1C can be found here: https://earth.esa.int/web/sentinel/user-guides/sentinel-2-msi/processing-levels/level-1

Detailed product information: https://earth.esa.int/web/sentinel/user-guides/sentinel-2-msi/document-library/-/asset_publisher/Wk0TKajiISaR/content/sentinel-2-level-1-to-level-1c-product-specifications

More information about the Sentinel-2 L1C Open Data set cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here:
https://registry.opendata.aws/sentinel-2/
https://roda.sentinel-hub.com/sentinel-s2-l1c/readme.html

General information about Sentinel-2 can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel-2

Sentinel-2 Level-2A

Uses: Best for scientific analysis only requiring data collected since 2018, beautiful visual images
Pros: highest-resolution scientific product publicly available, atmospherically-corrected, has several derived layers that are not part of Sentinel-2 L1C (scene classification, cloud, snow)
Cons: limited historical data
Years: 2018-present
Resolutions: 10m, 20m, 60m (depends on layer)
Coverage: Global
Bands/Layers: red, green, blue, near infrared, shortwave infrared, aerosol optical thickness, vegetation red edge, water vapor, costal aerosol, true color image, scene classification, cloud, snow
Projection: UTM/WGS84
Gridding: UTM Zone + latitude band + Military Grid Reference System (MGRS)
Revisit rate: 5 days

Sentinel-2 is a mission supported by the European Space Agency consisting of two satellites carrying a MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI). The Level-1C (L1C) product represents a view of the Earth that has been orthorectified to account for the angle the image was taken at, the angle of the sun when it was taken, and the elevation of the terrain, and gridded into UTM zones. It is a "bottom of atmosphere" product, meaning that a complex process has been performed on the data in an attempt to remove the effect of the Earth's atmosphere between the sensor and the ground, in order to get images that more accurately represent what the ground actually looks like.

More information about Sentinel-2 L2A can be found here: https://earth.esa.int/web/sentinel/user-guides/sentinel-2-msi/processing-levels/level-2

Detailed product information: https://earth.esa.int/web/sentinel/user-guides/sentinel-2-msi/document-library/-/asset_publisher/Wk0TKajiISaR/content/sentinel-2-level-1-to-level-1c-product-specifications

More information about the Sentinel-2 L2A Open Data set cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here:
https://registry.opendata.aws/sentinel-2/
https://roda.sentinel-hub.com/sentinel-s2-l2a/readme.html

General information about Sentinel-2 can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel-2

NAIP

Uses: Best for year-over-year land use classification and change detection, detailed visual images
Pros: high resolution
Cons: only available over the United States, not atmospherically-corrected, only collected every 2-3 years, only 4 data bands
Years: 2012-2018
Resolution: 60cm and 100cm
Coverage: United States
Bands/Layers: Red, green, blue, near infrared
Projection: UTM/WGS84
Gridding: digital ortho quarter quad tiles (DOQQs)
Revisit rate: 2-3 years

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the National Agriculture Imagery Program to provide high-resolution imagery of the United States during the growing season. The images are collected using an airplane-mounted camera every 2-3 years over the "lower 48" states (also referred to as the conterminous United States, or CONUS). The imagery for several states in the past few years is 60cm resolution, and all other imagery is 100cm resolution. The imagery is not atmospherically-corrected, though generally contains less atmospheric distortion than imagery acquired by satellite because the airplane is closer to the ground. Only four bands are collected: red, green, blue, and infrared.

There are three multi-band data assets for each item in this collection. There are two 4-band (red, green, blue, and NIR) assets appropriate for scientific analysis:

  • the "source" asset, in GeoTIFF format, though not a Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF

  • the "analytic" asset, in Meta Raster Format (MRF) using Limited Error Raster Compression (LERC)

The "visual" asset is a 3-band (RGB) Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF that is internally JPEG compressed, intended to be used for visual rendering.

More information about NAIP can be found here:

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/aerial-photography/imagery-programs/naip-imagery/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Agriculture_Imagery_Program

More information about the NAIP Open Data set cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here:
https://registry.opendata.aws/naip/
https://docs.opendata.aws/naip/readme.html

Maxar Open Data

Uses: Analysis of areas of sudden onset major crisis events (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires)
Pros: high resolution (sub-meter resolution)
Cons: only available over a small number of areas for a limited amount of time, only RGB data bands
Years: 2010-present
Resolution: variable, but all sub-meter
Coverage: Worldwide (but highly fragmented)
Bands/Layers: Red, green, blue
Projection: EPSG:4326
Gridding: none

Revisit rate: daily for most covered areas and time spansThe Maxar Open Data program provides high-resolution imagery over areas that have experienced sudden onset major crisis events (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires, COVID-19). Most scenes have a single multi-band RGB GeoTIFF of data. Data from several different satellites is included in this collection.

More information about the Maxar Open Data Program cataloged by Earth OnDemand can be found here:
https://www.maxar.com/open-data

SpaceNet 7

SpaceNet 7 Multi-Temporal Urban Development Challenge Training Dataset

Uses: SpaceNet 7 Multi-Temporal Urban Development Challenge
Years: 2018-present
Resolution: 4.78m
Coverage: small locations, but over entire world
Bands/Layers: red, green, blue, NIR
Projection: Pseudo-Mercator
Gridding: n/a
Revisit rate: monthly

The SpaceNet 7 Multi-Temporal Urban Development Challenge dataset features a deep temporal stack of imagery and labels in over 100 locations across all six inhabited continents.

More information about SpaceNet 7 can be found here:

 

 

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