AVHRR Polar Pathfinder Twice-Daily 1.25 km EASE-Grid Composites

Data Contributors

KEY, JEFFREY
MASLANIK, JIM
SCAMBOS, TED
EMERY, WILLIAM
FOWLER, CHUCK
HARAN, TERRY

Parameters

ALBEDO
BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE
CLOUD AMOUNT/FREQUENCY
INFRARED RADIANCE
LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE
SKIN TEMPERATURE
THERMAL INFRARED
THERMAL PROPERTIES
VIEWING GEOMETRY
VISIBLE RADIANCE

Instruments

AVHRR : ADVANCED VERY HIGH RESOLUTION RADIOMETER
RADIOMETERS

Please note that the machine on which these AVHRR data are processed has reached its life expectancy and will no longer be available as of 02 June 2008 until further notice.

The AVHRR Polar Pathfinder Twice-Daily 1.25 km EASE-Grid Composites are a collection of products for both poles, consisting of twice-daily gridded and calibrated satellite channel data and derived parameters. Data include five Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) channels, clear sky surface broadband albedo and skin temperature, solar zenith angle, satellite elevation angle, sun-satellite relative azimuth angle, surface type mask, cloud mask, orbit mask, time of acquisition, and ice motion vectors. Data are composited onto two grids per day based on common local solar times and scan angle. Reduced-resolution data (25 km) derived from the 1.25 km data are available to assist users in selecting these data. AVHRR local area coverage (LAC) and High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) level 1b data are used to generate the Polar Pathfinder products at grid spacings of 1.25 km. AVHRR Polar Pathfinder data extend poleward from 48.4 degrees north and 53.2 degrees south latitudes, from August 1993 through December 1998 for the Northern Hemisphere, and from April 1992 through January 1996 for the Southern Hemisphere. Data are in 1-byte and 2-byte integer grid format. Ice motion vectors are in ASCII text format. Data are available on 8-mm tape or by ftp. Distribution formats available: North: 104 MB (2-byte), 52 MB (1-byte), 8 MB (ice motion) South: 82 MB (2-byte), 41 MB (1-byte), 6.3 MB (ice motion).

Data Citation

Scambos, T., T. Haran, C. Fowler, J. Maslanik, J. Key, and W. Emery. 2000, updated 2002. AVHRR Polar Pathfinder twice-daily 1.25 km EASE-Grid composites. Boulder, CO: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Digital media.