Terra Fusion Data Sampler

The Terra Basic Fusion dataset is a fused dataset of the original Level 1 radiances from the five Terra instruments. They have been fully validate to contain the original Terra instrument Level 1 data. Each Level 1 Terra Basic Fusion file contains one full Terra orbit of data and is typically 15 – 40 GB in size, depending on how much data was collected for that orbit. It contains instrument radiance in physical units; radiance quality indicator; geolocation for each IFOV at its native resolution; sun-view geometry; bservation time; and other attributes/metadata. It is stored in HDF5, conformed to CF conventions, and accessible by netCDF-4 enhanced models. It’s naming convention follows: TERRA_BF_L1B_OXXXX_YYYYMMDDHHMMSS_F000_V000.h5. A concise description of the dataset, along with links to complete documentation and available software tools, can be found on the Terra Fusion project page: https://terrafusion.web.illinois.edu .

Terra is the flagship satellite of NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS). It was launched into orbit on December 18, 1999 and carries five instruments. These are the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), and the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT).

The Terra Basic Fusion dataset is an easy-to-access record of the Level 1 radiances for instruments on the Terra mission for selected WRS-2 paths covering the years 2000-2015. These paths are Paths 20-26 (e.g., US corn belt), 108 (e.g., Japan), 125 (e.g., China), 143 (e.g., India), 150 (e.g., Showa Station, Antarctica), 169 (e.g., Europe and Africa), 188 (e.g., Nigeria calibration site), and 233 (e.g., Greenland).