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ASTER 20th Anniversary

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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2019) | Viewed by 67713

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yasushi Yamaguchi

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Guest Editor

Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
Interests: remote sensing using data from ASTER and other optical sensor images for geological mapping; terrestrial vegetation monitoring; and heat balance analysis in urban centers

Mr. Michael J. Abrams

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Guest Editor

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Interests: ASTER; Geologic Remote Sensing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Advanced Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is a research facility instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft. We will soon celebrate the 20^th anniversary of ASTER since its launch in December 1999. ASTER has been providing high spatial resolution multispectral data in the VNIR, SWIR and TIR regions, and along-track stereo data. Starting April 2016, ASTER data have been distributed to the public at no cost. Another important and the most popular data set is the ASTER Global DEM, which covers almost the entire land surface at 30 m grid size. ASTER data have been widely used in a variety of application areas such as land surface mapping and change detection, volcano and other natural hazard monitoring, and urban heat island monitoring. This special issue will cover topics including scientific achievements using ASTER data, calibration activities to ensure long-term consistency of ASTER data, applications to a wide range of disciplines, and commercial and operational uses. We also encourage the submission of papers on individual scientific results obtained by using ASTER data.

Prof. Yasushi Yamaguchi
Mr. Michael J. Abrams
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

ASTER
ASTER long-term calibration
Surface mapping by ASTER
Change detection by ASTER
ASTER GDEM

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 144 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial for the Special Issue “ASTER 20th Anniversary”

by Yasushi Yamaguchi and Michael Abrams

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(5), 884; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050884 - 10 Mar 2020

Viewed by 2183

Abstract

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is a research
facility instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

Research

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23 pages, 9292 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Validation of ASTER Emissivity Retrieval Using the Mako Airborne TIR Imaging Spectrometer at the Algodones Dune Field in Southern California, USA

by Amit Mushkin, Alan R. Gillespie, Elsa A. Abbott, Jigjidsurengiin Batbaatar, Glynn Hulley, Howard Tan, David M. Tratt and Kerry N. Buckland

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(5), 815; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050815 - 03 Mar 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2784

Abstract

Validation of emissivity (ε) retrievals from spaceborne thermal infrared (TIR) sensors typically requires spatial extrapolations over several orders of magnitude for a comparison between centimeter-scale laboratory ε measurements and the common decameter and lower resolution of spaceborne TIR data. In the case of NASA’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) temperature and ε separation algorithm (TES), this extrapolation becomes especially challenging because TES was originally designed for the geologic surface of Earth, which is typically heterogeneous even at centimeter and decameter scales. Here, we used the airborne TIR hyperspectral Mako sensor with its 2.2 m/pixel resolution, to bridge this scaling issue and robustly link between ASTER TES 90 m/pixel emissivity retrievals and laboratory ε measurements from the Algodones dune field in southern California, USA. The experimental setup included: (i) Laboratory XRD, grain size, and TIR spectral measurements; (ii) radiosonde launches at the time of the two Mako overpasses for atmospheric corrections; (iii) ground-based thermal measurements for calibration, and (iv) analyses of ASTER day and night ε retrievals from 21 different acquisitions. We show that while cavity radiation leads to a 2% to 4% decrease in the effective emissivity contrast of fully resolved scene elements (e.g., slipface slopes and interdune flats), spectral variability of the site when imaged at 90 m/pixel is below 1%, because at this scale the dune field becomes an effectively homogeneous mixture of the different dune elements. We also found that adsorption of atmospheric moisture to grain surfaces during the predawn hours increased the effective ε of the dune surface by up to 0.04. The accuracy of ASTER’s daytime emissivity retrievals using each of the three available atmospheric correction protocols was better than 0.01 and within the target performance of ASTER’s standard emissivity product. Nighttime emissivity retrievals had lower precision (<0.03) likely due to residual atmospheric effects. The water vapor scaling (WVS) atmospheric correction protocol was required to obtain accurate (<0.01) nighttime ASTER emissivity retrievals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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22 pages, 6145 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Toward the Detection of Permafrost Using Land-Surface Temperature Mapping

by Jigjidsurengiin Batbaatar, Alan R. Gillespie, Ronald S. Sletten, Amit Mushkin, Rivka Amit, Darío Trombotto Liaudat, Lu Liu and Gregg Petrie

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(4), 695; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12040695 - 20 Feb 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4364

Abstract

Permafrost is degrading under current warming conditions, disrupting infrastructure, releasing carbon from soils, and altering seasonal water availability. Therefore, it is important to quantitatively map the change in the extent and depth of permafrost. We used satellite images of land-surface temperature to recognize and map the zero curtain, i.e., the isothermal period of ground temperature during seasonal freeze and thaw, as a precursor for delineating permafrost boundaries from remotely sensed thermal-infrared data. The phase transition of moisture in the ground allows the zero curtain to occur when near-surface soil moisture thaws or freezes, and also when ice-rich permafrost thaws or freezes. We propose that mapping the zero curtain is a precursor to mapping permafrost at shallow depths. We used ASTER and a MODIS-Aqua daily afternoon land-surface temperature (LST) timeseries to recognize the zero curtain at the 1-km scale as a “proof of concept.” Our regional mapping of the zero curtain over an area around the 7000 m high volcano Ojos del Salado in Chile suggests that the zero curtain can be mapped over arid regions of the world. It also indicates that surface heterogeneity, snow cover, and cloud cover can hinder the effectiveness of our approach. To be of practical use in many areas, it may be helpful to reduce the topographic and compositional heterogeneity in order to increase the LST accuracy. The necessary finer spatial resolution to reduce these problems is provided by ASTER (90 m). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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17 pages, 3175 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Radiometric Degradation Curves for the ASTER VNIR Processing Using Vicarious and Lunar Calibrations

by Satoshi Tsuchida, Hirokazu Yamamoto, Toru Kouyama, Kenta Obata, Fumihiro Sakuma, Tetsushi Tachikawa, Akihide Kamei, Kohei Arai, Jeffrey S. Czapla-Myers, Stuart F. Biggar and Kurtis J. Thome

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(3), 427; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12030427 - 29 Jan 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3907

Abstract

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) onboard Terra platform, which was launched in 1999, has three separate subsystems: a visible and near-infrared (VNIR) radiometer, a shortwave-infrared radiometer, and a thermal-infrared radiometer. The ASTER VNIR bands have been radiometrically corrected for approximately 14 years by the sensor degradation curves estimated from the onboard calibrator according to the original calibration plan. However, this calibration by the onboard calibrator encountered a problem; specifically, it is inconsistent with the results of vicarious calibration and cross calibration. Therefore, the ASTER VNIR processing was applied by the radiometric degradation curves calculated from the results of three calibration approaches, i.e., the onboard calibrator, the vicarious calibration, and the cross calibration since February 2014. Even though the current degradation curves were revised, the inter-band and lunar calibrations show some inconsistencies owing to the different traceability in the bands by different calibration approaches. In this study, the current degradation curves and their problems are explained, and the new curves that are derived from the vicarious calibration with lunar calibration are discussed. The new degradation curves that have the same traceability in the bands will be used for future ASTER VNIR processing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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35 pages, 6184 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Satellite ASTER Mineral Mapping the Provenance of the Loess Used by the Ming to Build their Earthen Great Wall

by Tom Cudahy, Pilong Shi, Yulia Novikova and Bihong Fu

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(2), 270; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12020270 - 14 Jan 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4822

Abstract

The earthen border wall (Great Wall) built by the Ming is largely made of wind-blown loess. However, does the composition of this loess change along the length of the wall in response to variations in regional sediment transport pathways and impacting on the wall’s erosional durability? To date, defining these sediment transport pathways has been a challenge because of the paucity of spatially-comprehensive, compositional information. Here, we show that satellite ASTER mineral maps, combined with field sample measurements along a 1200 km section of the Ming’s earthen wall, reveal both the compositional heterogeneity of loess as well as the complexity of the sediment transport pathways of individual loess components, including: (i) quartz sand from Cretaceous sandstones in the Gobi Desert; (ii) gypsum from evaporative lakes in the Tengger Desert; (iii) kaolinite from Devonian Molasse in the Qilian Shan; and (iv) chlorite and muscovite from meta-volcanic rocks exposed across the Alashan Block. Sediment transport pathways involve a combination of colluvial, aeolian and fluvial (ephemeral and permanent) processes shaped by the topography. ASTER enabled mapping of compositional gradients related to two pathways, namely: (i) quartz sand driven by aeolian saltation in concert with the Yellow River; and (ii) clay and fine silt travelling large distances (>500 km) by long-term wind suspension. The most intact section of wall is found along the Hexi Corridor, which is poor in quartz sand and rich in (kaolinitic) clay and fine-silt, driven by wind-shielding by the Alashan Block. We also found evidence that the Ming: (i) mined loess from close by the wall (<1 km); (ii) targeted loess richer in finer fractions; and (iii) routinely applied a Ca-rich additive (probably lime). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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18 pages, 13534 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

ASTER Cloud Coverage Assessment and Mission Operations Analysis Using Terra/MODIS Cloud Mask Products

by Hideyuki Tonooka and Tetsushi Tachikawa

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(23), 2798; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11232798 - 26 Nov 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3787

Abstract

Since the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument cannot detect clouds accurately for snow-covered or nighttime images due to a lack of spectral bands, Terra/MODIS cloud mask (MOD35) products have been alternatively used in cloud assessment for all ASTER images. In this study, we evaluated ASTER cloud mask images generated from MOD35 products and used them to analyze the mission operations of ASTER. In the evaluation, ASTER cloud mask images from different MOD35 versions (Collections 5, 6, and 6.1) showed a large discrepancy in low- or high-latitude areas, and the rate of ASTER scenes with a high uncertain-pixel rate (≥30%) showed to be 2.2% in daytime and 12.0% in nighttime. In the visual evaluation with ASTER browse images, about 2% of cloud mask images showed some problems such as mislabeling and artifacts. In the mission operations analysis, the cloud avoidance function implemented in the ASTER observation scheduler showed a decrease in the mean cloud coverage (MCC) and an increase in the rate of clear scenes by 10% to 15% in each. Although 19-year-old time-series of MCC in five areas showed weather-related fluctuations such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), they indicated a small percent reduction in MCC by enhancement of the cloud avoidance function in April 2012. The global means of the number of clear ASTER scenes were 15.7 and 6.6 scenes in daytime and nighttime, respectively, and those of the success rate were 33.3% and 40.4% in daytime and nighttime, respectively. These results are expected to contribute not only to the ASTER Project but also to other optical sensor projects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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18 pages, 4396 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Lunar Calibration for ASTER VNIR and TIR with Observations of the Moon in 2003 and 2017

by Toru Kouyama, Soushi Kato, Masakuni Kikuchi, Fumihiro Sakuma, Akira Miura, Tetsushi Tachikawa, Satoshi Tsuchida, Kenta Obata and Ryosuke Nakamura

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(22), 2712; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222712 - 19 Nov 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5865

Abstract

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), which is a multiband pushbroom sensor suite onboard Terra, has successfully provided valuable multiband images for approximately 20 years since Terra’s launch in 1999. Since the launch, sensitivity degradations in ASTER’s visible and near infrared (VNIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) bands have been monitored and corrected with various calibration methods. However, a unignorable discrepancy between different calibration methods has been confirmed for the VNIR bands that should be assessed with another reliable calibration method. In April 2003 and August 2017, ASTER observed the Moon (and deepspace) for conducting a radiometric calibration (called as lunar calibration), which can measure the temporal variation in the sensor sensitivity of the VNIR bands enough accurately (better than 1%). From the lunar calibration, 3–6% sensitivity degradations were confirmed in the VNIR bands from 2003 to 2017. Since the measured degradations from the other methods showed different trends from the lunar calibration, the lunar calibration suggests a further improvement is needed for the VNIR calibration. Sensitivity degradations in the TIR bands were also confirmed by monitoring the variation in the number of saturated pixels, which were qualitatively consistent with the onboard and vicarious calibrations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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16 pages, 17382 KiB

Open AccessArticle

New Insights of Geomorphologic and Lithologic Features on Wudalianchi Volcanoes in the Northeastern China from the ASTER Multispectral Data

by Han Fu, Bihong Fu, Yoshiki Ninomiya and Pilong Shi

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(22), 2663; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222663 - 14 Nov 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2874

Abstract

Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imaging system onboard NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s) Terra satellite is capable of measuring multispectral reflectance of the earth’s surface targets in visible and infrared (VNIR) to shortwave infrared (SWIR) (until 2006) as well as multispectral thermal infrared (TIR) regions. ASTER VNIR stereo imaging technique can provide high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) data. The DEMs data, three-dimensional (3D) perspective, and ratio images produced from the ASTER multispectral data are employed to analyze the geomorphologic and lithologic features of Wudalianchi volcanoes in the northeastern China. Our results indicate that the 14 major conical volcanic craters of Wudalianchi volcanoes are arranged as three sub-parallel zones, extending in a NE (Northeast) direction, which is similar to the direction of regional fault system based on the ASTER DEMs data. Among the 14 volcanic craters in Wudalianchi, the Laoheishan, and Huoshaoshan lavas flows, after the historic eruptions, pouring down from the crater, partially blocked the Baihe River, which forms the Five Large Connected Pools, known as the Wudalianchi Lake. Lithologic mapping shows that ASTER multispectral ratio imagery, particularly, the Lava Flow Index (LFI) (LFI = B10/B12) imagery, can clearly distinguish different lava flow units, and at least four stages of volcanic eruptions are revealed in the Wudalianchi Quaternary volcano cluster. Thus, ASTER multispectral TIR data can be used to determine relative dating of Quaternary volcanoes in the semi-arid region. Moreover, ASTER 3D perspective image can present an excellent view for tracking the flow directions of different lavas of Wudalianchi Holocene volcanoes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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15 pages, 41563 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Global 15-Meter Mosaic Derived from Simulated True-Color ASTER Imagery

by Louis Gonzalez, Valérie Vallet and Hirokazu Yamamoto

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(4), 441; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11040441 - 20 Feb 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5977

Abstract

This work proposes a new methodology to build an Earth-wide mosaic using high-spatial resolution (15

m

) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images in pseudo-true color. As ASTER originally misses a blue visible band, we have designed a cloud of [...] Read more.

This work proposes a new methodology to build an Earth-wide mosaic using high-spatial resolution (15

m

) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) images in pseudo-true color. As ASTER originally misses a blue visible band, we have designed a cloud of artificial neural networks to estimate the ASTER blue reflectance from Level-1 data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the same satellite Terra platform. Next, the granules are radiometrically harmonized with a novel color-balancing method and seamlessly blended into a mosaic. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithms are robust enough to process several thousands of scenes acquired under very different temporal, spatial, and atmospheric conditions. Furthermore, the created mosaic fully preserves the ASTER fine structures across the various building steps. The proposed methodology and protocol are modular so that they can easily be adapted to similar sensors with enormous image libraries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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20 pages, 8901 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integration and Visualization of Mineralogical and Topographical Information Derived from ASTER and DEM Data

by Kana Kurata and Yasushi Yamaguchi

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(2), 162; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020162 - 16 Jan 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4985

Abstract

This paper proposes a method of combining and visualizing multiple lithological indices derived from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data and topographical information derived from digital elevation model (DEM) data in a single color image that can be easily interpreted from a geological point of view. For the purposes of mapping silicate rocks, carbonate rocks, and clay minerals in hydrothermal alteration zones, two new indices derived from ASTER thermal infrared emissivity data were developed to identify silicate rocks, and existing indices were adopted to indicate the distribution of carbonate rocks and the species and amounts of clay mineral. In addition, another new method was developed to visualize the topography from DEM data. The lithological indices and topographical information were integrated using the hue–saturation–value (HSV) color model. The resultant integrated image was evaluated by field survey and through comparison with the results of previous studies in the Cuprite and Goldfield areas, Nevada, USA. It was confirmed that the proposed method can be used to visualize geological information and that the resulting images can easily be interpreted from a geological point of view. Full article

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Review

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40 pages, 3499 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceReview

The Spatial and Spectral Resolution of ASTER Infrared Image Data: A Paradigm Shift in Volcanological Remote Sensing

by Michael S. Ramsey and Ian T.W. Flynn

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(4), 738; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12040738 - 23 Feb 2020

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 7416

Abstract

During the past two decades, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on the Terra satellite has acquired nearly 320,000 scenes of the world’s volcanoes. This is ~10% of the data in the global ASTER archive. Many of these scenes captured volcanic activity at never before seen spatial and spectral scales, particularly in the thermal infrared (TIR) region. Despite this large archive of data, the temporal resolution of ASTER is simply not adequate to understand ongoing eruptions and assess the hazards to local populations in near real time. However, programs designed to integrate ASTER into a volcanic data sensor web have greatly improved the cadence of the data (in some cases, to as many as 3 scenes in 48 h). This frequency can inform our understanding of what is possible with future systems collecting similar data on the daily or hourly time scales. Here, we present the history of ASTER’s contributions to volcanology, highlighting unique aspects of the instrument and its data. The ASTER archive was mined to provide statistics including the number of observations with volcanic activity, its type, and the average cloud cover. These were noted for more than 2000 scenes over periods of 1, 5 and 20 years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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28 pages, 5628 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Twenty Years of ASTER Contributions to Lithologic Mapping and Mineral Exploration

by Michael Abrams and Yasushi Yamaguchi

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(11), 1394; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11111394 - 11 Jun 2019

Cited by 62 | Viewed by 13642

Abstract

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer is one of five instruments operating on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Terra platform. Launched in 1999, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) has been acquiring optical data for 20 years. ASTER is a joint project between Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; and U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Numerous reports of geologic mapping and mineral exploration applications of ASTER data attest to the unique capabilities of the instrument. Until 2000, Landsat was the instrument of choice to provide surface composition information. Its scanners had two broadband short wave infrared (SWIR) bands and a single thermal infrared band. A single SWIR band amalgamated all diagnostic absorption features in the 2–2.5 micron wavelength region into a single band, providing no information on mineral composition. Clays, carbonates, and sulfates could only be detected as a single group. The single thermal infrared (TIR) band provided no information on silicate composition (felsic vs. mafic igneous rocks; quartz content of sedimentary rocks). Since 2000, all of these mineralogical distinctions, and more, could be accomplished due to ASTER’s unique, high spatial resolution multispectral bands: six in the SWIR and five in the TIR. The data have sufficient information to provide good results using the simplest techniques, like band ratios, or more sophisticated analyses, like machine learning. A robust archive of images facilitated use of the data for global exploration and mapping. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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Other

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17 pages, 6431 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Technical Methodology for ASTER Global Water Body Data Base

by Hiroyuki Fujisada, Minoru Urai and Akira Iwasaki

Remote Sens. 2018, 10(12), 1860; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10121860 - 22 Nov 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3672

Abstract

A waterbody detection technique is an essential part of a digital elevation model (DEM) generation to delineate land–water boundaries and set flattened elevations. This paper describes the technical methodology for improving the initial tile-based waterbody data that are created during production of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) GDEM, because without improvement such tile-based waterbodies data are not suitable for incorporating into the new ASTER GDEM Version 3. Waterbodies are classified into three categories: sea, lake, and river. For sea-waterbodies, the effect of sea ice is removed to better delineate sea shorelines in high latitude areas: sea ice prevents accurate delineation of sea shorelines. For lake-waterbodies, the major part of the processing is to set the unique elevation value for each lake using a mosaic image that covers the entire lake area. Rivers present a unique challenge, because their elevations gradually step down from upstream to downstream. Initially, visual inspection is required to separate rivers from lakes. A stepwise elevation assignment, with a step of one meter, is carried out by manual or automated methods, depending on the situation. The ASTER global water database (GWBD) product consists of a global set of 1° latitude-by-1° longitude tiles containing water body attribute and elevation data files in geographic latitude and longitude coordinates and with one arc second posting. Each tile contains 3601-by-3601 data points. All improved waterbody elevation data are incorporated into the ASTER GDEM to reflect the improved results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ASTER 20th Anniversary)

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