DELIVERING AATSR DATA TO AUSTRALIAN USERS AND AN APPLICATION TO AUSTRALIAN NDVI

摘要

This paper describes a project to make the global AATSR gridded brightness temperature and reflectance (ATS_TOA_1P) dataset available online to Australian users. Through our colleagues in CSIRO we have access to these data on DVD. We describe here our processing system that reads the files from DVD, converts them to the commonly used HDF file format, generates auxiliary data such as browse and track map images, records metadata, and serves the data to the community via a CGI website. Our system and its processing is not restricted to Australia as we archive the full-orbit top of atmosphere (TOA) data, but our current focus is for Australian users. For these reasons a familiar and readily interpretable file format for each pass, and easy access to the data set were primary goals. As a sample application for the AATSR TOA data we present monthly composites of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for continental Australia for the year 2003. While it is not possible to draw climatological conclusions from one year of data, the NDVI composites do show expected seasonal variability. In addition we demonstrate the ability to remap and composite multiple TOA passes. Current research activities in CSIRO that are utilising AATSR data include: regional sea surface temperature; global land temperature, and; regional and national NDVI analysis. We expect further applications to arise as experience with this data set disseminates through the community.