MISR versions

[nickeson3373]

Why are there two versions of MISR data available, and what is the difference?
For instance
MISR Level 2 Surface parameters V003
MISR Level 2 Surface parameters V002

It's not clear from the product pages, everything listed appears to be the same.
There is a format difference, and a temporal coverage difference, but these are not what are usually considered 'versions'. Version implies an algorithm and product difference and would require separate pages, while a format difference would not.

In any case, it should be clear to the user what is meant by the different versions.
The link on the product page to the 'ASDC Overview of MISR File Naming and Versioning Conventions' page was not helpful.

[ASDC - rkey]

Hi nickeson3373,

Having two particular versions available may be confusing and are sometimes done at the request of the Science Teams to support ongoing research and publications. In short, both the aerosol and land surface product format is changed from HDF-EOS2/HDF4 in V002 to NetCDF4/HDF5 in V003.

Please see the original announcement:
https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/mi ... ng-V23.pdf
Data Product Specification (DPS) for Land Surface Product:
https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/mi ... 180125.pdf

Best Regards

[nickeson3373]

Are format and temporal coverage the only differences?
That is my question.
I am already aware of the format differences.

A user understands format differences more clearly than version differences.
For instance, these products are the same version, different formats.

https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/MISR/MIL3DLSN_4

https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/MISR/MIL3DLS_4

This distinction seems to be handled differently for L2 products.
It's rather confusing.

[ASDC - rkey]

In reviewing the MISR L2 Surface Parameter collection pages, the Overview section lists the additional Science Keywords for V003. Also, the Additional Information section list the Additional Attributes in regards to DOI.

V002: https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/c ... -LARC.html
V003: https://cmr.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/c ... -LARC.html

We'll add any additional information received on this post.
Regards

[ASDC - rkey]

Hi nickeson3373,

We've received the following response from the MISR Science Team:

Apart from the formatting changes, the new L2 Land Product uses the new version of the L2 Aerosol Product as input. Since the new aerosol product release incorporates very significant algorithm changes, it was appropriate to designate a new version of the land product as well. There were also a few minor changes made to the L2 Land Product algorithm at the same time.

Best Regards

[nickeson3373]

It would be good if the differences between the products are mentioned in the product description so it's clear to the user that they are in fact different!