ESA Land Surface Temperature Climate Change Initiative (LST_cci): Monthly multisensor Infra-Red (IR) Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) land surface temperature (LST) level 3 supercollated (L3S) global product (2009-2020), version 1.00

This dataset contains monthly-averaged land surface temperatures (LSTs) and their uncertainty estimates from multiple Infra-Red (IR) instruments on satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) sun-synchronous (a.k.a. polar orbiting) satellites. Satellite land surface temperatures are skin temperatures, which means, for example, the temperature of the ground surface in bare soil areas, the temperature of the canopy over forests, and a mix of the soil and leaf temperature over sparse vegetation. The skin temperature is an important variable when considering surface fluxes of, for instance, heat and water.

LST fields are provided at 3 hourly intervals each day (00:00 UTC, 03:00 UTC, 06:00 UTC, 09:00 UTC, 12:00 UTC, 15:00 UTC, 18:00 UTC and 21:00 UTC). Per pixel uncertainty estimates are given in two forms, first, an estimate of the total uncertainty for the pixel and second, a breakdown of the uncertainty into components by correlation length. Also provided in the files, on a per pixel basis, are the observation time, the satellite viewing and the solar geometry angles.

The product is based on merging of available GEO data and infilling with available LEO data outside of the GEO discs. Inter-instrument biases are accounted for by cross-calibration with the IASI instruments on METOP and LSTs are retrieved using a Generalised Split Window algorithm from all instruments. As data towards the edge of the GEO disc is known to have greater uncertainty, any datum with a satellite zenith angle of more than 60 degrees is discarded. All LSTs included have an observation time that lies within +/- 30 minutes of the file nominal Universal Time.

Data from the following instruments is included in the dataset: geostationary, Imagers on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) 12 and GOES 13, Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on GOES 16, Spinning Enhanced Visible Infra-Red Imager (SEVIRI) on Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) 1, MSG 2, MSG 3, and MSG 4, Japanese Advanced Meteorological Imager (JAMI) on Multifunctional Transport Satellite MTSAT) 1, and MTSAT 2; and polar, Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) on Environmental Satellite (Envisat), Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Earth Observation System (EOS) - Aqua and EOS - Terra, Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer SLSTR on Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B. However, it should be noted that which instruments contribute to a particular product file depends on depends on mission start and end dates and instrument downtimes.

Dataset coverage starts on 1st January 2009 and ends on 31st December 2020.

LSTs are provided on a global equal angle grid at a resolution of 0.05° longitude and 0.05° latitude. The dataset coverage is nominally global over the land surface but varies depending on satellite and instrument availability and coverage. Furthermore, LSTs are not produced where clouds are present since under these circumstances the IR radiometer observes the cloud top which is usually much colder than the surface.

The dataset was produced by the University of Leicester (UoL) and data were processed in the UoL processing chain. The Geostationary data were produced by the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA) before being merged into the final dataset.

The dataset was produced as part of the ESA Land Surface Temperature Climate Change Initiative which strives to improve satellite datasets to Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) standards.

Date (Publication): 2022-07-11T14:42:00

Date (Creation): 2022-07-11T14:42:00

Citation identifier: https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/98ca52a0bcf94fc98155b7e914aa22a0

Citation identifier: NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis / 98ca52a0bcf94fc98155b7e914aa22a0

Citation identifier: doi / 10.5285/98ca52a0bcf94fc98155b7e914aa22a0

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Unavailable	Veal, Karen	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Ermida, Sofia	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Ghent, Darren	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Perry, Mike	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Trigo, Isabel	Unavailable	Author
NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis		support@ceda.ac.uk	Custodian
NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis		support@ceda.ac.uk	Distributor
NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis		support@ceda.ac.uk	pointofContact
NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis		support@ceda.ac.uk	Publisher

Maintenance and update frequency: Not planned

Update scope: Dataset

Keywords

land surface temperature
ESA
CCI

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

orthoimagery

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Public data: access to these data is available to both registered and non-registered users.

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Under the following licence https://artefacts.ceda.ac.uk/licences/specific_licences/esacci_lst_terms_and_conditions.pdf, appropriate use of these data may fall under unclassified use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.

Spatial representation type: Grid

Language: English

Topic category

Imagery base maps earth cover

Begin date: 2009-01-01T00:00:00

End date: 2020-12-31T23:59:59

Unique resource identifier: WGS 84

Distribution format

Name	Version
Data are in NetCDF format

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis		support@ceda.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/98ca52a0bcf94fc98155b7e914aa22a0	CEDA Data Catalogue Page

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://data.ceda.ac.uk/neodc/esacci/land_surface_temperature/data/MULTISENSOR_IRMGP/L3S/0.05/v1.00/monthly/	DOWNLOAD

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://admin.climate.esa.int/media/documents/LST-CCI-D4.1-PVIR_-_i1r0_-_Product_Validation_and_Intercomparison_Report.pdf	Validation and Intercomparison Report (PVIR) V1.0

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://admin.climate.esa.int/media/documents/LST-CCI-D4.3-PUG_-_i2r0_-_Product_User_Guide.pdf	Product User Guide

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://climate.esa.int/sites/default/files/LST-CCI-D2.2-ATBD%20-%20i1r1%20-%20Algorithm%20Theoretical%20Basis%20Document.pdf	Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document v1.1

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://climate.esa.int/en/projects/land-surface-temperature/about	ESA LST_cci webpages

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Statement: The data record has been produced by the University of Leicester working within the ESA Land Surface Temperature Climate Change Initiative (LST_cci), and supplied for archiving at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA).

Contact: data.lst-cci@acri-st.fr

Metadata

File identifier: 98ca52a0bcf94fc98155b7e914aa22a0 XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Parent identifier: National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) partnered datasets
7fe9f59731ab47b6a20e792e0cba4641

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Date stamp: 2026-02-05T03:25:49

Metadata standard name: UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version: 2.3

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NERC EDS Centre for Environmental Data Analysis		support@ceda.ac.uk	Point of contact

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