Aqua/AMSR-E L2 AMSR2 Format Snow Depth

  • DOI: 10.57746/EO.01gs73ax49r64mj9xwg8zdnz29
  • Last Updated: 2023-02-14
Data Progress: Complete
G-Portal

Product Summary

Aqua/AMSR-E L2 AMSR2 Format Snow Depth dataset is obtained from the AMSR-E sensor onboard Aqua and produced by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Aqua of NASA was launched on May 4th, 2002 in Sun-synchronous sub-recurrent Orbit. Aqua observes various kinds of physical phenomena related to water and energy circulation from space. Aqua data promoted the research activities for interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and lands, and their effects on climate changes.
AMSR-E scans the Earth's surface by mechanically rotating the antenna and acquires radiance data of the Earth's surface. Each frequency band is monitored by vertical and horizontal polarized wave. It conically scans and keeps an angle of incidence on the earth surface (a nominal of 55 degrees) and accomplishes a swath width of about 1450 km. The AMSR-E reached its limit to maintain the antenna rotation speed necessary for regular observations, and the AMSR-E restarted its observation in slow rotation mode (2 rotations per minute) on December 4, 2012. However, the AMSR-E reached its limit to maintain the antenna rotation speed necessary for slow rotation mode and it automatically halted its observation and rotation on December 4, 2015.
Level 2 product stores the Geophysical quantity from the brightness temperature of level 1 product.
This product includes Snow Depth (SND). Compared with non-snow surfaces, therefore, a snowpack has a distinctive electromagnetic signature at frequencies above 25 GHz. When viewed using passive microwave radiometers from above the snowpack, the scattering of upwelling radiation depresses the brightness temperature of the snow at increasingly high frequencies. This scattering behavior of snow can be exploited to detect the presence of snow on the ground. Having detected the snow, it is then possible to estimate the snow depth of the pack using the degree of scattering. The physical quantity unit is cm.
Also, the quality flag for each observation point (Pixel Data Quality) is stored.
The provided format is HDF5. Spatial resolution is 10 km. The current version of the product is "Version 8". The generation unit is scene (defined as a half orbit).

Platform
Aqua
Sensor
AMSR-E

Coverage

Temporal Coverage

2002-06-01 to 2011-10-05

Spatial Coverage

Bounding Rectangle
(90.0°, -180.0°, -90.0°, 180.0°)

Resolution

10 km

Location

  • GLOBAL > GLOBAL LAND
Dataset Short Name
Aqua_AMSR-E_L2_AMSR2_Format_SND
Platform / Sensor
Aqua / AMSR-E
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Bounding Rectangle
(90.0°, -180.0°, -90.0°, 180.0°)
Temporal Coverage
2002-06-01 to 2011-10-05
Product Level ID
L2
Version Description

Version 2, 2004-03-12, Notavailable
Version 3, 2005-03-01, Notavailable
Version 7, 2011-09-29, Notavailable
Version 8, 2019-07-05, Available

File Format
HDF5
Dataset Type
None / Scene
Resolution
Spatial Resolution
10 km
Temporal Resolution
None
Dataset Progress
Complete
Projection
None
Collection Data Type
SCIENCE_QUALITY
Get Data
https://gportal.jaxa.jp/gpr/?lang=en
Dataset Title
Aqua/AMSR-E L2 AMSR2 Format Snow Depth
Distribution Format
HDF5
Fees
Free
Citation
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. 2002. Aqua/AMSR-E L2 AMSR2 Format Snow Depth. https://doi.org/10.57746/EO.01gs73ax49r64mj9xwg8zdnz29
Access Constraints

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Use Constraints

The user is entitled to use G-Portal data free of charge without any restrictions (including commercial use) except for the condition about acknowledgement of data credit as stipulated in G-portal terms of use 7.(2).Click here for detailed G-Portal data usage constrains.

G-Portal Terms of service
https://gportal.jaxa.jp/gpr/index/eula?lang=en
ISO Topic Categories
  • CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE
  • Environment
Science Keywords
  • EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > SNOW/ICE > SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT
Location Keywords
  • GLOBAL > GLOBAL LAND

ISO Topic Categories is the keywords in the ISO 19115 - Geographic Information Metadata.

Science Keywords hosts Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords which are a hierarchical set of controlled Earth Science vocabularies that help ensure Earth science data, services, and variables are described in a consistent and comprehensive manner and allow for the precise searching of metadata and subsequent retrieval of data, services, and variables.