Published: May 6, 2016
Want to learn more about ASTER data? This webinar provides information about the various ASTER products, shows how they can be applied to variety of studies and demonstrate how to discover and access these data yourself. NASA’s Terra satellite has been orbiting the Earth for 16 years with five state-of-the art remote sensing instruments on board. One of the most unique instruments is the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer - or ASTER. Designed to provide wide spectral coverage as well as higher spatial resolution, the ASTER sensor has collected nearly 3 million scenes over its lifetime. Data from these scenes are used to study Earth’s dynamic features such as volcanoes, measure land surface temperature, create detailed elevation maps, and much more. Recently on April 1, the ASTER archive was made available to the public at no charge; additional scenes will be made available as they are acquired and archived. There are 16 different ASTER products, including a precision terrain corrected product created by NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) and a global elevation dataset. This webinar will discuss characteristics of the different products, describe how the data can be applied to a variety of different studies, and demonstrate how to access the data for yourself. ASTER operates as a partnership between NASA, Japan’s Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI), Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and Japan Space Systems. ASTER data are distributed by NASA’s LP DAAC, located at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.