S-MODE MASS Level 1 LWIR Version 1

NOTICE: This dataset is currently undergoing maintenance to be repackaged as zip files of flight lines. The file count will decrease dramatically when new zip files are available.


This dataset contains airborne longwave infrared (LWIR) imagery from the Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) during a pilot campaign conducted approximately 300 km offshore of San Francisco over two weeks in October 2021. S-MODE aims to understand how ocean dynamics acting on short spatial scales influence the vertical exchange of physical and biological variables in the ocean. The Modular Aerial Sensing System (MASS) is an airborne instrument package that is mounted on the DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft which flies long duration detailed surveys of the field domain during deployments. MASS includes a FLIR SC6700 camera with 13mm lens was mounted nadir in the aircraft in an orientation so that the short edge of the image was parallel with the flight track. The camera was synchronized to a coupled GPS/IMU system with images collected at 50hz. Raw images were calibrated for lens distortion, vignetting, and boresight misalignment with the GPS/IMU. Images were georeferenced to the processed aircraft trajectory and exported with reference to the WGS84 datum with a UTM zone 10 projection (EPSG 32610) at an altitude-dependent resolution. Level 1 images are available in TIFF format.