EARTHDATA DISCOVERY

 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

January 2026 EARTHDATA DISCOVERY Open Access for Open Science

Demystifying Earth Observation Data           Earthdata’s new and improved Data Basics resource makes it easy to dive into our Earth observation archive and understand how to access and use NASA’s wealth of Earth science data.                   Watch our new Orbits video to see the various paths NASA’s space-based platforms take as they travel around Earth. ➞                       Articles & News

Eight New Data Agreements Secured by NASA’s CSDA Program The new Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program agreements advance the program's mission to acquire commercial data that supports NASA's Earth science research and applications, while expanding the quality, coverage, and variety of Earth observation data provided to the scientific community.           New SWOT L4 River Water Flow and Quality Estimates These Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) L4 estimates enable data users to see rivers across the entire planet and support water resources management, weather extremes forecasting, and science research.           IMERG Shows Remnants of Gabrielle Led to Ibiza Flash Flooding In mid-September 2025, Hurricane Gabrielle’s long track over the Atlantic reached the coast of Spain and Portugal. Gabrielle’s warm, moist air combined with an unstable atmosphere caused record-setting floods in Ibiza. This article uses several NASA datasets and services to examine the event.           The ARC Project Transitions to ESDIS The Analysis and Review of the Common Metadata Repository (ARC) project is transitioning to Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) management, continuing the important task of ensuring that NASA’s Earth observation metadata records are correct, complete, and consistent.           CSDA Program Releases New Data Acquisition Request System A new dashboard within CSDA’s Satellite Data Explorer (SDX) streamlines how users submit and manage commercial satellite data proposals.                   Webinars & Events

Illuminating Earth's Energy Balance: NASA ASDC's Role in Advancing PREFIRE's Insights on Polar Radiation January 30, 2026           Explore the groundbreaking Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) mission and its insights into Earth's energy balance during this two-hour webinar. This interactive session will explain how NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) serves as the gateway to polar radiation data that advances our understanding of climate dynamics.                     NASA Earth Science & Industry Summit February 2, 2026 This event, hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, connects NASA Earth science experts with industry stakeholders to use Earth observation to solve problems, drive economic development, and benefit society.               Monitoring Water Quality in Lakes and Coastal Regions Using STREAM February 10 & 17, 2026 This two-part Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) training introduces the Satellite-based Tool for Rapid Evaluation of Aquatic Environments (STREAM), a web tool for monitoring chlorophyll-a concentration, Secchi disk depth, and total suspended solids in inland lakes and coastal regions. The training demonstrates how to assess changes in water quality in a given lake using QGIS.               Visualizing Land Cover and Land Use Change with NASA Satellite Imagery February 24 & 26, 2026 Learn how to use NASA data to assess land cover and land use change (LCLUC) during this two-part ARSET training. Participants will see examples of supervised and unsupervised classification models implemented in the R coding language and improve their understanding of how these models can be used to produce maps and metrics of LCLUC.               Introducing NISAR: NASA’s Biggest Earth Observation Mission Recorded on January 21, 2026 The NASA/Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission revolutionizes how we monitor Earth. Its instruments measure movements of Earth down to a centimeter, an incredible feat for a platform orbiting more than 800 kilometers away. Learn more in this webinar hosted by NISAR data scientists.               National Civil Applications Center: Connecting Space-Based Resources to Civil Science, Research, and Disaster Applications Recorded on January 14, 2026 NASA’s CSDA Program provided an overview of the National Civil Applications Center (NCAC) and the Civil Applications Committee (CAC). These organizations complement CSDA by connecting national and commercial space-based remote sensing resources to civil science, research, federal operations, and disaster response.                         Learning Resources           An Introduction to NASA's ARCSIX Campaign This StoryMap was created in collaboration with the ARCSIX Science Team and provides an overview of the Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX) suborbital campaign. ARCSIX data is available from ASDC.           Storming the Stratosphere This StoryMap highlights Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere (DCOTSS) data collected during a thunderstorm event on June 23-24, 2022.           NASA Open Science 101 NASA’s Open Science 101 is a self-paced online curriculum designed to equip learners with the foundational knowledge and practical skills needed to engage in collaborative and transparent research. Key skills taught in this course include data management, open publishing, and research workflow optimization. Complete all five modules and earn a NASA Open Science digital badge that can be shared on social media.                     Data Alerts           NISAR DEM V1.2 Data Collection Released           GEDI Level 4C Gridded Waveform Structural Complexity Index Released           GEDI Level 4D Imputed Waveforms Released           TEMPO Version 04 Level 1 Radiances Twilight Data Released           EMIT L2A Masks Version 2 Data Product Released           ASTER Version 4 Historical Processing Completed and New Resources Available           AVUELO AVIRIS-3 Orthocorrected Surface Reflectance Dataset Released                   Track Data Outages and New Dataset Releases ➞                     Worldview Images of the Week           Disappearing Iceberg A23A A true-color corrected reflectance image captured on January 13, 2026, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the Aqua platform shows Iceberg A23A disintegrating in the South Atlantic Ocean.           Fires in Patagonia, Argentina Smoke from fires in Patagonia, Argentina was captured on January 8, 2026, by the MODIS instrument aboard the Terra platform. These fires began on Monday, January 5, and were fueled by wind, high temperatures, and drought conditions.           Mississippi River Delta, Louisiana The Mississippi River Delta is shown in data-rich detail in a radiometric terrain corrected (RTC) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter image from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1A platform.           Tonlé Sap, Cambodia A false color corrected reflectance image of Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, was captured on December 23, 2025, by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the joint NASA/NOAA NOAA-20 platform. See the image with a Flood layer that provides a daily global map of flooding and accumulates water detections over the 3-day compositing period.                 NASA's Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program oversees the life cycle of NASA’s Earth science data and seeks to maximize the scientific return from missions and experiments.

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