ECOSTRESS Cloud Confidence Mask data from the ECO_L2_CLOUD product over eastern Washington, United States, acquired on October 31, 2022.
View full-size imageThe ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) mission measures the temperature of plants to better understand how much water plants need and how they respond to stress. ECOSTRESS is attached to the International Space Station (ISS) and collects data globally as well as key biomes and agricultural zones around the world and selected FLUXNET validation sites. A map of the acquisition coverage can be found on the ECOSTRESS website.
The ECOSTRESS Swath Cloud Mask Instantaneous L2 Global 70 m (ECO_L2_CLOUD) Version 2 data product is derived using a single-channel Bayesian cloud threshold with a look-up-table (LUT) approach. The ECOSTRESS Level 2 cloud product provides a cloud mask that can be used to determine cloud cover for accurate land surface temperature and evapotranspiration estimation. The corresponding ECO_L1B_GEO data product is required to georeference the ECO_L2_CLOUD data product.
The ECO_L2_CLOUD Version 2 data product contains two cloud mask layers: Brightness temperature LUT test and Final cloud mask. Information on how to interpret the bit fields in the cloud mask is provided in Table 7 of the User Guide.
ECO_L2_CLOUD Version 2 data product algorithm has been revamped to have a more rigorous single-channel Bayesian cloud threshold with a look-up-table (LUT). See Section 3.1 of the User Guide.
Addition of brightness temperature LUT test and brightness temperature difference test data layers.
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Collection | ECOSTRESS |
| DOI | 10.5067/ECOSTRESS/ECO_L2_CLOUD.002 |
| File Size | ~1.5 MB |
| Temporal Resolution | Varies |
| Temporal Extent | 2018-07-09 to Present |
| Spatial Extent | Global (+/- 52 degrees latitude) |
| Coordinate System | N/A |
| Datum | N/A |
| File Format | HDF5 |
| Geographic Dimensions | 400 km x 400 km |
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Number of Science Dataset (SDS) Layers | 2 |
| Columns/Rows | 5400 x 5632 |
| Pixel Size | 70 m |
| SDS Name | Description | Units | Data Type | Fill Value | No Data Value | Valid Range | Scale Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud_confidence | Brightness temperature LUT test | N/A | 8-bit unsigned integer | 255 | N/A | 0 to 3 | N/A |
| Cloud_final | Final cloud mask | N/A | 8-bit unsigned integer | 255 | N/A | 0,1 | N/A |
| Class | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Confident Clear |
| 1 | Probably Clear |
| 2 | Probably Cloudy |
| 3 | Confident Cloudy |
| Class | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Clear |
| 1 | Cloudy |
Information on the quality of this product is not provided.
Data acquisition gap: ECOSTRESS was launched on June 29, 2018, and moved to autonomous science operations on August 20, 2018, following a successful in-orbit checkout period. On September 29, 2018, ECOSTRESS experienced an anomaly with its primary mass storage unit (MSU). ECOSTRESS has a primary and secondary MSU (A and B). On December 5, 2018, the instrument was switched to the secondary MSU and science operations resumed. On March 14, 2019, the secondary MSU experienced a similar anomaly, temporarily halting science acquisitions. On May 15, 2019, a new data acquisition approach was implemented, and science acquisitions resumed. To optimize the new acquisition approach TIR bands 2, 4 and 5 are being downloaded. The data products are as previously, except the bands not downloaded contain fill values (L1 radiance and L2 emissivity). This approach was implemented from May 15, 2019 through April 28, 2023.
Data acquisition gap: From February 8 to February 16, 2020, an ECOSTRESS instrument issue resulted in a data anomaly that created striping in band 4 (10.5 micron). These data products have been reprocessed and are available for download. No ECOSTRESS data were acquired on February 17, 2020, due to the instrument being in SAFEHOLD. Data acquired following the anomaly have not been affected.
Data acquisition: ECOSTRESS is now routinely acquiring and downlinking all 5-bands of thermal infrared data for the first time since the loss of both on-board Mass Storage Units in 2018/2019. This feature was successfully enabled following a Data Processing Unit firmware update (version 4.1) to the payload on April 28, 2023. To better balance contiguous science data scene variables, 3-band collection is currently being interleaved with 5-band acquisitions over the orbital day/night periods.