Americas GIS data

Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) mission utilizes a portable, airborne imaging system that aims to simultaneously map the composition, structure, and function of terrestrial ecosystems. G-LiHT primarily focuses on a broad diversity of forest communities and ecoregions in North America, mapping aerial swaths over the Conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. The purpose of G-LiHT’s Canopy Height Model Keyhole Markup Language (KML) data product (GLCHMK) is to provide LiDAR-derived maximum canopy height and canopy variability information to aid in the study and analysis of biodiversity and climate change. Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center began collecting data over locally-defined areas in 2011 and that the collection will continue to grow as aerial campaigns are flown and processed. GLCHMK data are processed as a Google Earth overlay KML file at a nominal 1 meter spatial resolution over locally-defined areas. A low resolution browse is also provided showing the canopy height with a color map applied in JPEG format.

Dates of Images: 5/3/2022, 5/10/2022 Summary: MODIS Global Flood Product, MCDWD, showing flooding observed on 5/3 and 5/10/2022 along the Red river in North Dakota and Manitoba. Product is based on optical imagery from the MODIS sensor, on both Terra and Aqua spacecraft. Observation times are approximately 10:30 am and 1:30 pm local time; flood extents at other times may not be observed. The 2-day composite product is delivered here; this uses observations from the given date and one day previous (eg 5/2 and 5/3 for the 5/3 product). For this event, 5/3 product was the first available after the clouds cleared, and the 2-day product shows reasonable flood coverage. The 1-day product shows more coverage, but also more false-positives; it may be of interest to some users. One week later, much of the flooding persisted (5/10). Caveats: Flooding is determined by comparing observed water extent to a reference water map, which may be inaccurate in fine details; some "flood" may be expected surface water, and some "surface water" may actually be flood, but both indicate areas where water was detected. The 2-day product has many fewer cloud-shadow false-positives than 1-day products, but these may still occur. Users are advised to review the source optical imagery (Terra and Aqua) in Worldview to confirm (https://go.nasa.gov/globalflood). Worldview also hosts the 2- and 3-day composite products, and allows rapid examination of all daily products. At 250 m resolution, this product will not reliably capture flood extents smaller than 250 m. As this is optical imagery, flooding under clouds will not be detected. Suggested Use: Red in the displayed image indicates flood; blue indicates expected surface water. Satellite/Sensor/Resolution: Terra and Aqua satellites, MODIS sensor, daily 250m resolution data (10:30 am observation for Terra, 1:30 pm for Aqua) Credits: NRT MODIS/Aqua+Terra Global Flood Product MCDWD_L3_NRT distributed from NASA LANCE. Available online [https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/global-flood-product]. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCDWD_L3_NRT.061 Project website includes FAQs and contacts for support: https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/global-flood-product

Date of Images: Post-Event: May 3, 2022-May 12, 2022 (Daily) Pre-Event: April 2022 (Composite) Summary: These Black Marble Day-Night Band (BRDF-Corrected) images were created by the NASA Black Marble Science team. The images are corrected for atmospheric, terrain, lunar BRDF, and straylight effects, and directly measures light intensity on the ground in units of nanowatts/(steradian centimeter squared). The images are scaled from 0 - 30. The baseline image is from September 2025, generated from all daily atmospheric and lunar-corrected data from that month. There is a layer to display where clouds are present. This comparison between the images is meant as a visual assessment of outage impacts to aid various partners who are working to deliver emergency aids to local communities. Power outage maps like these help disaster response efforts in the short-term as well as long-term monitoring during the crucial stages of disaster recovery. Suggested Use: NASA's Black Marble Nighttime Light product suite is a state-of-the-art daily global collection of standard products for monitoring nighttime lights (NTL). Utilizing the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) aboard the Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 satellites. The image is in inferno color scale. Yellow represents presence of more light; dark blue less lights. Observations may be obscured by total or partial cloud cover. Other factors such as snow reflectance, moon phase, wildfires, and wildfire smoke may distort light radiance and require further analysis when assessing power outages. Satellite/Sensor: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Platform (SNPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 Resolution: 500 meters Credits: NASA Black Marble Science team Please cite the following two references when using this data: Román MO, Stokes EC, Shrestha R, Wang Z, Schultz L, Carlo EA, Sun Q, Bell J, Molthan A, Kalb V, Ji C. Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PloS one. 2019 Jun 28;14(6):e0218883. Román MO, Wang Z, Sun Q, Kalb V, Miller SD, Molthan A, Schultz L, Bell J, Stokes EC, Pandey B, Seto KC. NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2018 Jun 1;210:113-43. Point of Contact: Ranjay Shrestha NASA Goddard Space Flight Center E-mail: ranjay.m.shrestha@nasa.gov Additional Links: NASA’s Black Marble Product Suite Román, M.O. et al. (2019) Satellite-based assessment of electricity restoration efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. PLoS One, 14 (6). Román, M.O. et al. (2018) NASA’s Black Marble nighttime lights product suite. Remote Sensing of Environment. 210, 113–143. Service URL: See REST Endpoint on the right. WMS Endpoint: https://gis.earthdata.nasa.gov/portal/services/DISASTERS_202510_HURRICANE_MELISSA/BlackMarble_BRDF/ImageServer/WMSServer

Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) mission is a portable, airborne imaging system that aims to simultaneously map the composition, structure, and function of terrestrial ecosystems. G-LiHT primarily focuses on a broad diversity of forest communities and ecoregions in North America, mapping aerial swaths over the Conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. The purpose of G-LiHT’s Hyperspectral Radiance data product (GLRADS) is to provide high-resolution radiance data, ranging in wavelength from 418 to 920 nanometers across 114 spectral bands. Radiance data is computed as the ratio between observed upwelling radiance and downwelling hemispheric irradiance, then corrected for differences in cross-track illumination and Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) using an empirically derived multiplier. At a nominal flying height of 335 m above ground level (AGL), the at-sensor radiance is a close approximation of surface radiance. GLRADS data are processed as a zipped raster data product (GeoTIFF) with associated header file (.hdr) at 1 meter spatial resolution over locally defined areas. A low-resolution browse is also provided with a color map applied in PNG format.

The NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Global Food Security-support Analysis Data (GFSAD) data product provides cropland extent data over South America for nominal year 2015 at 30 meter resolution (GFSAD30SACE). The monitoring of global cropland extent is critical for policymaking and provides important baseline data that are used in many agricultural cropland studies pertaining to water sustainability and food security. The GFSAD30SACE data product uses the pixel-based supervised classifier, Random Forest (RF), to retrieve cropland extent from a combination of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data, and elevation derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Version 3 data products. Each GFSAD30SACE GeoTIFF file contains a cropland extent layer that defines areas of cropland, non-cropland, and water bodies over a 10° by 10° area. Known Issues * Known issues, including constraints and limitations, are provided on page 18 of the ATBD.