ESA Land Surface Temperature Climate Change Initiative (LST_cci): Land surface temperature from AATSR (Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer), level 3 collated (L3C) global product (2002-2012), version 3.00

Also provided in the files, on a per pixel basis, are the observation time, the satellite viewing and solar geometry angles, a quality flag, and land cover class.The dataset coverage is global over the land surface. LSTs are provided on a global equal angle grid at a resolution of 0.01° longitude and 0.01° latitude. AATSR achieves full Earth coverage in 3 days so the daily files have gaps where the surface is not covered by the satellite swath on that day.

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.Dataset coverage starts on 25th July 2002 and ends on 8th April 2012. There is a twelve day gap in the dataset due to Envisat mission extension orbital manoeuvres from 21st October 2010 to 1st November 2010. There are minor interruptions (1-2 days) during satellite/instrument maintenance periods.The dataset was produced by the University of Leicester (UoL) and LSTs were retrieved using the (UoL) LST retrieval algorithm and data were processed in the UoL processing chain.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.