This dataset contains land surface temperatures (LSTs) and their uncertainty estimates from multiple Infra-Red (IR) instruments on Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) sun-synchronous (a.k.a. polar orbiting) satellites. Satellite land surface temperatures are skin temperatures, which means, for example, the temperature of the ground surface in bare soil areas, the temperature of the canopy over forests, and a mix of the soil and leaf temperature over sparse vegetation. The skin temperature is an important variable when considering surface fluxes of, for instance, heat and water.

Daytime and night-time temperatures are provided in separate files corresponding to 10:30 and 22:30 local solar time. Per pixel uncertainty estimates are given in two forms, first, an estimate of the total uncertainty for the pixel and second, a breakdown of the uncertainty into components by correlation length. 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 is comprised of LSTs from a series of instruments with a common heritage: the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer 2 (ATSR-2), the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) and the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer on Sentinel 3A (SLSTRA); and data from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer on Earth Observation System - Terra (MODIS Terra) to fill the gap between AATSR and SLSTR. So, the instruments contributing to the time series are: ATSR-2 from August 1995 to July 2002; AATSR from August 2002 to March 2012; MODIS Terra from April 2012 to July 2016; and SLSTRA from August 2016 to December 2020. Inter-instrument biases are accounted for by cross-calibration with the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instruments on Meteorological Operational (METOP) satellites. For consistency, a common algorithm is used for LST retrieval for all instruments. Furthermore, an adjustment is made to the LSTs to account for the half-hour difference between satellite equator crossing times. For consistency through the time series, coverage is restricted to the narrowest instrument swath width.

The dataset coverage is near global over the land surface. During the period covered by ATSR-2, small regions were not covered due to downlinking constraints (most noticeably a track extending southwards across central Asia through India – further details can be found on the ATSR project webpages at http://www.atsr.rl.ac.uk/dataproducts/availability/coverage/atsr-2/index.shtml).

LSTs are provided on a global equal angle grid at a resolution of 0.01° longitude and 0.01° latitude. Full Earth coverage is achieved 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 1st August 1995 and ends on 31st December 2020. There are two gaps of several months in the dataset: no data were acquired from ATSR-2 between 23 December 1995 and 30 June 1996 due to a scan mirror anomaly; and the ERS-2 gyro failed in January 2001, data quality was less good between 17th Jan 2001 and 5th July 2001 and are not used in this dataset. Also, 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 (1-10 days) during satellite/instrument maintenance periods or instrument anomalies.

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.