The Advanced Visible and Near InfraRed 4-band Radiometer type-2 (AVNIR-2) is a visible and near infrared 4-band radiometer offering 10m spatial resolution optical imagery that is often used for land and coastal earth observation applications. AVNIR-2 is on board the Japanese earth observation Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) and was developed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The satellite was launched in 2006 and was active for 5 years. It has since lost power, but remains in orbit as of July 2014. Data is available for large areas of the Republic of Ireland and small areas of Scotland and England, for 2007 to 2008. The data were acquired by the Landmap project from ESA. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded Landmap service which ran from 2001 to July 2014 collected and hosted a large amount of earth observation data for the majority of the UK. After removal of JISC funding in 2013, the Landmap service is no longer operational, with the data now held at the NEODC.The satellite was launched in 2006 and was active for 5 years. It has since lost power, but remains in orbit as of July 2014. Data is available for large areas of the Republic of Ireland and small areas of Scotland and England, for 2007 to 2008.

The 4 bands are:

• Band 1 (blue): 0.43 to 0.50µm
• Band 2 (green): 0.52 to 0.60µm
• Band 3 (red): 0.61 to 0.69µm
• Band 4 (near infrared): 0.76 to 0.89µm

Full Colour Composition (FCC), True Colour Composition (TCC) and Full Composite (FC) data are available. FCC data comprises of bands 4, 3 and 2, TCC of 3, 2 and 1 and FC of all bands. For each product there is a GeoTiff file (.tiff) and a GeoTiff World File (.tfw) provided with each image. The GeoTiff image files contain the AVNIR-2 data and the geo-reference information related to the Tiff image. The GeoTiff World Files are data files that can be used to geo-reference images to an appropriate projection scheme.

The images provide the basis for land coverage and land-use classification maps for monitoring regional environments. In addition, the instrument has a cross track pointing capability useful for quick response applications including disaster monitoring.

Data are available to UK academics and students. To apply for access, please

1. Register as a NEODC user. If you already are a NEODC registered user, skip this step. If you have forgotten your NEODC user ID and/or password, please contact the NEODC helpdesk at neodc@rl.ac.uk.
2. Apply for access to the Landmap data. Application involves the agreement with the Landmap terms of use.

The data are archived in the directory structure of region/year/data type/data for ease of use. Full Colour Composition (FCC), True Colour Composition (TCC) and Full Composite (FC) data are available as GeoTiff files which can be opened by most Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Image Processors (IP) such as the freely available Basic ERS & Envisat (A)ATSR and Meris Toolbox (BEAM) or Erdas ER viewer. Geotiff files are TIFF files which have geographic metadata embedded as tags within the TIFF file. The geographic metadata can then be used to position the image in the correct location and geometry on the screen of a geographic information display. FCC data comprises of bands 4, 3 and 2, TCC of 3, 2 and 1 and FC of all bands. Metadata, in the form of aux, rrd and tfw files, are contained in the same folders as the data. The tfw files are GeoTiff World Files which are used to geo-reference images to an appropriate projection scheme.

Software

Basic ERS & Envisat (A) ATSR and Meris Toolbox (BEAM): BEAM is an open-source toolbox and development platform for viewing, analysing and processing of remote sensing raster data. Originally developed to facilitate the utilisation of image data from Envisat's optical instruments, BEAM now supports a growing number of other raster data formats such as GeoTIFF and NetCDF as well as data formats of other Earth Observation (EO) sensors such as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), AVNIR, Polarised Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (PRISM) and Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS). Various data and algorithms are supported by dedicated extension plug-ins.

Erdas ER viewer, available free of charge, can be used to open raster image formats such as TIFF, GeoTiff, IMG, ECW, ERS, ALG, DAT and many more, and is capable of handling large file sizes.

Links to further information

More information is available from the following websites:

• The Landmap project AVNIR-2 website - this site may be offline after 1st August 2014 due to a withdrawal of JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funding, see below for an archived version of the site
• An archived version of the Landmap project AVNIR 2 website, hosted by the Internet Archive project
• The AVNIR-2 page at ESA
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) details about ALOS
• Earth Observation Research Center (EORC) details about ALOS and AVNIR-2

ALOS Orbital Parameters

Please also add the following copyright statement: ESA 2004/2005/2006/2007/2008…. Received and Distributed by University of Manchester under licence from the European Space Agency.

If you have queries about these pages or about obtaining the AVNIR-2 data from the NEODC then you should contact the NEODC Support team. Your query should be answered within one working day. When follow-up work is required, the NEODC support will carry out the work as quickly and efficiently as possible, and in any case, the user will be kept informed of progress.