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ARSET trainings cover free tools and models from a range of Earth-observing systems, including NASA satellite and airborne missions.

All of the tools and models we cover are based on data from NASA Earth-observing satellites, airborne campaigns, ground stations and missions. Listed below, you’ll find descriptions and resources on using these tools and models when available.

Other resources are available from NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Distributive Active Archive Centers (DAACs), including the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) How-To’s on obtaining and viewing data.

Tools and Models

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Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Data Synergy Tool

The AERONET program is a federation of ground-based remote sensing aerosol networks established by NASA and PHOTONS. Products include data from ground-based networks (AERONET and MPLNET), satellite instruments (MODIS), and model products (back trajectory analyses and GOCART). In addition to images, data plots, and maps, most data products provide digital data that may be downloaded for further analysis.

AeroStat / Multi-sensor Aerosol Products Sampling System (MAPSS)

AeroStat is a Giovanni instance that can be used to evaluate the quality of satellite retrievals. It allows you to compare AeroStat data with coincident satellite data. This is a quick and effective way to evaluate the quality of the satellite retrieval at a particular location for any range of dates or season. The tool includes data from Terra, Aqua, and MISR.

Carbon Mapper

Platform for visualizing carbon globally, with features including mapping and data visualizations, regional carbon summaries, and time series plots of carbon flux and stocks.

Dartmouth Flood Observatory

DFO is an interactive web-tool developed for humanitarian, water resources, and research applications that "uses orbital sensors to gather globally consistent information concerning surface water variability, since yr 1998 and continuing to the present" (DFO Mission Statement).

Earth Explorer

Allows you to search satellite images, aerial photographs, and cartographic products from the USGS Earth Resources Observation Science (EROS) Center archive, which includes Landsat, MODIS (NASA Terra and Aqua), and ASTER.

Earth Observatory

Images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate.

Earthdata Search

This application allows you to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data.

Extreme Rainfall Detection System (ITHACA)

ERDS is aimed at providing timely and easy to understand alerts related to exceptional rainfall and potential flood events on a global scale.

Firecast (Conservation International)

A tool that covers active fires, fire risk conditions, annual fire season severity forecasts, and forest monitoring.

Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS)​

Provides data for near real-time active fire locations and historical data.

Global Flood Monitoring System (GFMS)

Provides global maps, time series, and animation (50°S-50°N) of instantaneous rain accumulated rain over 24, 72, and 168 hours; and streamflow rates and flood detection at 1/8th degree.

Global Visualization Viewer (GloVis) (USGS)

An online tool that allows the user to search for satellite and aerial data, including ASTER, EO-1, Landsat, MODIS (Aqua, Terra), and Sentinel.

Giovanni

A web-based application that allows easy and quick exploration of NASA satellite data. There are several "instances" of Giovanni, each one offering access to a different set of satellite products.

Global Agriculture Monitoring (GLAM)

A web interface that allows users to plot time series graphs over crop seasons, monitor current conditions, spatially view NDVI anomalies, and plot histograms of current and historical NDVI data.

Global Data Explorer (GDEX)

A data viewer that provides access to multiple sources of digital elevation sets. Users can subset and download data by area of interest in multiple formats and projections. Note: The GDEx data access interface is in the process of being decommissioned.

Global Forest Watch (World Resources Institute)

HDFLook

HDFLook is a multifunctional data processing and visualization tool for land, ocean, and atmosphere MODIS data.

Infusing Satellite Data into Environmental Applications (IDEA)

IDEA is a PM2.5 forecasting tool designed to improve air quality assessment, management and prediction by infusing NASA satellite measurements into EPA and NOAA analyses. The IDEA web-based analysis, forecast, and visualization system is hosted at the NOAA Center of Satellite Applications and Research (STAR).

LAADS Web

A web portal for searching and ordering MODIS atmosphere data.

LANCE-MODIS Products

The Land, Atmosphere Near Real-Time Capability (LANCE) makes Earth observation data from five different instruments (AIRS, AMSR2, MLS, MODIS, and OMI) available within three hours of overpass. This data has applications for weather and climate, forecasting and monitoring: air quality, disasters, land, water, and wildfires.

Land Information System (LIS)

A tool for hydrology modeling and data assimilation, using satellite observations to inform models. LIS is the infrastructure that enables the Land Data Assimilation Systems (LDASs).

LANDFIRE

A joint program between wildland fire management programs of the USDA Forest Service and US Department of Interior. It provides consistent, comprehensive, geospatial data for vegetation, wildland fuel, and fire regimes in the U.S. including data and reports, videos, tutorials, and decision-making tools.

LandsatLook Viewer

An online tool to obtain Landsat images that allows you to search for specific images, compare features and view changes, and download the imagery.

LifeMapper

A web tool that combines species occurrence data with climate and land data to create distribution maps and maps predicting where individual species could be.

Map of Life

A web-based portal that integrates different sources of data to describe and visualize species distribution worldwide.

Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA)

Reanalysis is a technique to produce multiple climate variables where past observations are combined with a model. MERRA blends the large quantity of observational data with output data of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model.

Mirador

Mirador is a data search tool that allows users to search, browse, and order Earth science data.

MODIS Near Real-Time Global Flood Mapping Portal

MODIS Reprojection Tool Web Interface (MRTWeb)

Combines capabilities from GloVis and the MODIS Reprojection Tool using three main tabs: selection, process, and download.

MODIS Snow Covered Area and Grain Size (MODSCAG)

Uses the MODIS surface reflectance bands to retrieve fraction of snow cover in each pixel and determines the grain size and albedo of that fractional snow cover.

Movebank (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology)

An online database of animal tracking data that helps animal tracking researchers to manage, share, protect, analyze, and archive their data.

North American and Global Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS and GLDAS)

NLDAS provides spatially and temporally consistent, land-surface model datasets from the best available observations and model output. GLDAS integrates ground satellite observations within sophisticated numerical models to produce physically consistent, high resolution fields of land surface states and fluxes.

NOAA Coral Reef Watch (NOAA)

An online tool that identifies areas at risk for coral bleaching.

oceanweb

An online tool providing ocean color, sea surface temperature, and sea surface salinity data.

Precipitation Processing System (PPS) STORM

STORM is a web interface for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission's PPS. PPS generates data using radar and microwave measurements from PMM, including GPM and TRMM.

Rehabilitation Capability Convergence for Ecosystem Recovery (RECOVER)

A decision support system that provides rapid assembly of site-specific data and delivers it in a customized GIS analysis environment for wildfires.

SeaDAS

Image analysis package for the processing, display, analysis, & quality control of ocean color data.

Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT)

SPoRT is a near global, near real-time aerosol comprehensive representation of the aerosol spatial distribution through merging multi-sensor AOD retrievals.

USDA Crop Explorer Global Reservoirs/Lakes

The global reservoirs/lakes toolbox contains reservoir and lake surface water height data.

Worldview

An online tool for browsing and downloading over 100 satellite-derived products, updated within three hours of observation. The tool has a wide range of products available including: fires (day and night), land surface temperature, snow cover, ice extent, water vapor, and aerosol optical depth. Includes access to Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission data.

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