ASTER

Users Guide
Part III

3D Ortho Product (L3A01)

(Ver.1.1)

July, 2004

ERSDAC
Earth Remote Sensing Data
Analysis Center
 ASTER Users Guide Part III
3D Ortho Product (L3A01)
(Ver.1.1)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................................................1

2. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION ................................................................................................................................................3

3. 3D ORTHO GENERATION ALGORITHM .........................................................................................................................4

3.1. OVERVIEW ...........................................................................................................................................................................4
3.2. ALGORITHM FLOW ..............................................................................................................................................................4

4. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION....................................................................................................................................................7
4.1. OUTLINE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................................................7
4.2. USER ASSIGNABLE PARAMETERS .........................................................................................................................................8
4.3. IMAGE DATA ........................................................................................................................................................................9
4.4. DEM-Z (ELEVATION) DATA ...............................................................................................................................................11
4.5. DEM-Z FLAG DATA ..........................................................................................................................................................12
4.6. GEOLOCATION DATA..........................................................................................................................................................13
4.7. METADATA ........................................................................................................................................................................14
4.8. SUPPLEMENT DATA ............................................................................................................................................................14

5. QUALITY INFORMATION .................................................................................................................................................15

5-1. ABSOLUTE ACCURACY ......................................................................................................................................................15
5-2. INTER-TELESCOPE BAND-TO-BAND REGISTRATION ACCURACY ........................................................................................16
5-3 INTRA-TELESCOPE BAND-TO-BAND REGISTRATION ACCURACY .........................................................................................16

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1)

 1. Introduction
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) is an advanced
multispectral imager that was launched on board the Terra spacecraft in December 1999. ASTER covers a
wide spectral region with 14 bands from visible to thermal infrared with high spatial, spectral and
radiometric resolution. This wide spectral region is covered by three telescopes, three VNIR (Visible and
Near Infrared Radiometer) bands with a spatial resolution of 15 m, six SWIR (Short Wave Infrared
Radiometer) bands with a spatial resolution of 30 m and five TIR (Thermal Infrared Radiometer) bands
with a spatial resolution of 90 m. In addition one more telescope is used to see backward in the near
infrared spectral band (band 3B) to give the stereoscopic capability that is the major subject of this Users
Guide. The spectral passbands are shown in Table 1-1. The Terra spacecraft is now flying in a circular,
near polar orbit at an altitude of 705 km. The orbit is sun-synchronous with equatorial crossing at local
time of 10:30 a.m., returning the same orbit every 16 days. The orbit parameters are the same as for
Landsat-7 except for the local time.

The ASTER instrument has two types of Level-1 data: Level-1A and Level-1B data. Level-1A data are
formally defined as reconstructed, unprocessed instrument data at full resolution. According to this
definition, the ASTER Level-1A data consist of the image data, the radiometric coefficients, the geometric
coefficients and other auxiliary data without applying the coefficients to the image data to maintain the
original data values. The Level-1B data are generated applying these coefficients for radiometric
calibration and geometric resampling.

The ortho image is the image observed just above the target point. This means the ortho image includes
no terrain error. The ortho image can be generated by correcting the terrain error using the elevation data for
each pixel and the off-nadir observation angle. The 3D ortho product is the ortho product with the
elevation data for each pixel, generated from the Level-1A data. Its formal name is Level-3A01. Figure
1-1 shows the relationship between the 3D ortho data and the source data.

The instrument geometric parameters such as the line of sight (LOS) vectors and the pointing axis vectors
were precisely adjusted through avalidation process using numerous GCPs. The DEM data, which is
processsed using only these system parameters, has been demonstrated to have extremely good accuracy.

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 1

 Table 1-1 Spectral Passband
Subsystem Band No. Spectral Range Spatial Resolution

1 0.52 0.60
2 0.63 0.69 15 m
VNIR 3N 0.78 0.86
3B 0.78 0.86

4 1.600 1.700
5 2.145 2.185
SWIR 6 2.185 2.225 30 m
7 2.235 2.285
8 2.295 2.365
9 2.360 2.430

10 8.125 8.475
11 8.475 8.825
TIR 12 8.925 9.275 90 m
10.25 10.95
13
10.95 11.65
14

ASTER Level-1A Data

3D Ortho Data
ASTER DEM Data

3ortho data are the ortho images with elevation data for each pixel

Figure 3-1 Relationship between the 3D ortho data and the source data

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 2

 2. System Configuration
The VNIR subsystem has two telescopes: a nadir-viewing telescope and a backward-viewing telescope, as
shown in Figure 2-1. This dual-telescope configuration was adopted to give stereoscopic viewing
capability in the along-track direction and to enable a large base-to-height ratio of 0.6 with minimum mass.
The single telescope design as adopted for JERS/OPS, can feature only a small base-to-height ratio. The
combination of the nadir and backward telescopes is a consequence of the trade-off between performance
and resources.

Figure 2-2 shows the stereo configuration. The relationship between base-to-height (B/H) ratio and is
B/H = tan , where is the angle between the nadir and the backward direction at a point on the Earths
surface. The angle , which corresponds to a B/H ratio of 0.6, is 30.96. By taking into account the
curvature of the Earths surface, the setting angle between the nadir and the backward telescope is designed
to be 27.60.

A pointing function is provided for global coverage in the cross-track direction, since the swath width of
ASTER is 60 km and the distance between neighboring orbits is 172 km at the equator. The optical axes of
the nadir and backward telescopes can be tilted simultaneously in the cross-track direction to cover a wider
range.

IG
FS
SPACECRAFT

O
NE
LI
T
ORBIT AF

EARTH SURFACE

CENTER OF EARTH

Figure 2-1 VNIR configuration Figure 2-2 Stereo configuration

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 3

 3. 3D Ortho Generation Algorithm

3.1. Overview
In 3D ortho data processing, the level-1A data is used as input image data. Moreover, the Level-4A01X
(DEM XYZ) data is used as geolocation information for providing ortho graphic projection and map
coordinate projection features to the Level-1A data. After performing collection to the Level-1A data and
the DEM data, a geometric conversion is performed on the image data. At that time, the SWIR parallax
erros in the along-track direction due to the detector alignment and in the cross-track direction due to the
Earth rotation are also corrected.

The 3D ortho product generated is image data that has been subjected to ortho graphic projection
processing and map coordinate projection processing. The DEM Z (elevation) data generated from the
Level-4A01X data for geolocation information on the image data, and DEM quality flag data are attached
to the 3D ortho product after performing the same transformation of coordinates as for the image data. The
DEM data used in the data processing is useful as quality information and, at the same time, may improve
users convenience if the DEM geometrically matching image data is attached.

3.2. Algorithm Flow

Figure 3-1 shows the 3D ortho product generation algorithm flow. This process is carried out as follows
1) to input the Level-1A data and the DEM data.
2) to apply the radiometric correction coefficients, and preprocess the Level-1A data by performing bad
pixel interpolation and strip removal. These processing algorithms are based on the processing
algorithm from the Level-1A to the Level-1B.
3) to carry out the following three interpolations for abnormal DEM data as a DEM preprocessing. The
quality flag is used to evaluate the abnormal data
a 3.1. to replace abnormal values with linearly interpolated values using neighboring normal values. This
interpolation is carried out in both directions: in the pixel direction and the line direction in turn
(CROSS-WIZE INTERPOLATION).
b 3.2. to replace any abnormal value for sea area with the geoid data (EGM96, 0.25 mesh).
c 3.3. to carry out smoothing for any data with a radically different value compared with the surrounding
values . This smoothing is repeated a number of times. The default repeating time is 50.
4) to calculate the SWIR parallax error due to detector alignment on the focal plane (see Figure 3-2). The
following two kinds of the parallax exist. The elevation data and the off-nadir observation angle are
used to calculate the parallax error. Real execution is carried out during the next geometric correction
stage simultaneously with other corrections.
a Parallax error in the along-track direction due to detector alignment gap.
bParallax error in the cross-track direction due to the Earth rotation during observation of all SWIR
bands. The observation time difference between band 6 and band 7 is 1.8 seconds.
5) to carry out the following geometric correction processing.

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 4

 a to transform the band 3N image to the selected map projection coordinates using the geolocation
information for the DEM-xyz data product
bto calculate the relative geolocation between band 3N and other bands using the geometric
correction table (GCT).
c to transform VNIR and TIR images besides band 3N to the selected map projection coordinates
using the previously calculated relative geolocation values.
dto transform the SWIR images to the selected map projection coordinates, simultaneously
applying the previously calculated the terrain errors and the relative geolocation values.
e to generate elevation data for VNIR, SWIR and TIR.
f to transform the elevation data and the quality data to the selected map projection coordinates.
6) to output the 3D ortho (Level-3A01) data.

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 5

 DEM DATA SET
(LEV EL-4A01 PRODUCT) LEVEL-1A DATA SET

CROSS -WISE RADIOMETRIC

INTERPOLATION CORRECTION

GEOID DB SEA SURFACE

BAD PIXEL INTERPOLATION
INTERPOLATION

SMOOTHING STRIP RE MOVAL

SWIR PARALLAX CALCULATION

ALONG-TRACK PARALLAX
CROSS-TRACK PARALLAX

GEOMETRIC CORRECTION
COORDINATE TRANSFORMATION
TERRAIN ERROR CORRECTION

3D ORTHO DATA SE T
(LEVEL-3A01 PRODUCT)

Figure 3-1 3D ortho product generation algorithm flow

FLIGHT DIRECTION

BAND 7
BAND 8 1 .3 3 mm

BAND 9
BORESIGHT BAND 4
BAND 5
BAND 6

FOCAL LENGTH : 387.75 mm

Figure 3-2 SWI R detector array alignment

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 6

 4. Product Description

4.1. Outline of Contents

Figure 4-1 shows the outline of the 3D ortho (Level-3A01) data products.

3D Ortho Data Product

(Level-3A01 Product)

Data Directory

Generic Header

Ancillary Data

VNIR Data VNIR Specific Header

VNIR Image Data

VNIR Supplement Data

VNIR Geolocation Data

SWIR Data SWIR Specific Header

SWIR Image Data

SWIR Supplement Data

SWIR Geolocation Data

TIR Data TIR Specific Header

TIR Image Data

TIR Supplement Data

TIR Geolocation Data

DEM Data DEM Specific Header

VNIR DEM Z Data

SWIR DEM Z Data

TIR DEM Z Data

DEM Flag Data

Figure 4-1 3D ortho data products outline

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 7

The 3D ortho product is basically the same as the Level-1B product except for the terrain error corrected
and the map oriented image. The data size is variable. The typical size of the product is shown in Table
4-1.

Table 4-1 Typical Size of 3D Ortho Product

No. Item Data Size(bytes)
1 Data Directory 4,0960
2 Generic Header about 3,000
3 Specific Header about 8,000
4 Ancillary Data about 1,728
5 Supplement Data about 1,379,550
6 VNIR Image Data about 100,000,000
7 SWIR Image Data about 35,000,000
8 TIR Image Data about 7,000,000
9 VNIR Geolocation Data about 3,000
10 SWIR Geolocation Data about 3,000
11 TIR Geolocation Data about 3,000
12 DEM ZV Data about 50,000,000
13 DEM ZS Data about 12,500,000
14 DEM ZT Data about 1,400,000
15 DEM Flag Data about 25,000,000
Total about 260MB

4.2. User Assignable Parameters

Table 4-2 shows the user-assignable parameters when ordering the 3D ortho product.

Table 4-2 User Assignable Parameters

Parameter Value
Data Arbitrary
(Default:WGS-84)
UTM(Default)
LCC
Map Projection PS
Uniform Lat., Lon
Nearest Neighbor
Interpolation Bi-linear
Cubic Convolution (Default)

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 8

4.3. Image Data

(1) Definition of DN Value

Unit conversion coefficients, which are defined as radiance per 1DN, are used to convert from DN to
radiance. Radiance (spectral radiance) is expressed in unit of W/(m2srm). It is a basic policy that the
unit conversion coefficient will be kept in the same values throughout the mission life. The relationship
between DN value and radiance is shown below and illustrated in Figure 4-2.

(i) A DN value of zero is allocated to dummy pixels.

(ii) A DN value of 1 is allocated to zero radiance.

(iii) A DN value of 254 is allocated to the maximum radiance in the VNIR and SWIR bands.

(iv) A DN value of 4094 is allocated to the maximum radiance in the TIR bands.

(v) A DN value of 255 is allocated to saturated pixels in the VNIR and SWIR bands.

(vi) A DN value of 4095 is allocated to saturated pixels in the TIR bands.

Dynamic Range
DN 0 1 254 255

Radiance

Dummy Zero Radiance

Maximum Radiance Saturation
Pixels
(a) VNIR and SWIR bands

not used
Dynamic Range
DN 0 1 4094 4095 65535(16bits

Radiance

Dummy Maximum Radiance Saturation

Zero Radiance
Pixels (Radiance of 370 K blackbody)

(b) TIR bands

Figure 4-2 Relationship between DN and radiances

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 9

Table 4-3 shows the unit conversion coefficients for each band. The unit conversion coefficients are also
included in the specific header and are the same as those for Level-1B data.

Table 4-3 Unit conversion Coefficients

Band Coefficient (W/(m2srm)/DN)
No. High gain Normal gain Low gain 1 Low gain 2
1 0.676 1.688 2.25
2 0.708 1.415 1.89 N/A
3N 0.423 0.862 1.15
3B 0.423 0.862 1.15
4 0.1087 0.2174 0.290 0.290
5 0.0348 0.0696 0.0925 0.409
6 0.0313 0.0625 0.0830 0.390
7 0.0299 0.0597 0.0795 0.332
8 0.0209 0.0417 0.0556 0.245
9 0.0159 0.0318 0.0424 0.265
10 6.882 x 10-3
11 6.780 x 10-3
12 N/A 6.590 x 10-3 N/A N/A
13 5.693 x 10-3
14 5.225 x 10-3

From the relationship described above, the radiance value can be obtained from the DN values as follows.

Radiance = (DN value -1) x Unit conversion coefficient

(2) Pixel Sixe

The pixel size for each subsystem is as follows.

VNIR : 15 m
SWIR : 30 m
TIR : 90 m

(3) Image Data Size

The image data size (pixels and line numbers) is variable depending on the processing parameters.

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 10

4.4. DEM-Z (Elevation) Data

The elevation data plane for each subsystem (VNIR, SWIR and TIR) is attached to the 3D ortho product.
The 16 bits are allocated to the elevation data with a resolution of 1 m (1 m/DN). The elevation data is
based on WGS-84 ellipsoid. The formal geoid base elevation can be calculated by subtracting the geoid
heights from the WGS-84 ellipsoid base values.

A DN value of 9999 is allocated to the dummy area. The pixel with an interpolated value can be
identified from the quality flag data. Table 4-4 shows a summary of the elevation data.

Table 4-4 Elevation Data Summary

Item Description

Variable
Data Size (value in each product is described in
DEM Specific Metadata)
VNIR: 15 m
Pixel Spacing
SWIR: 30 m
TIR: 90 m
Data Type 2 dimensional data array
16 bits integer (signed)
Unit Conversion Factor 1 m/DN
Reference Elevation WGS-84 ellipsoid
Dummy Area Data -9999

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 11

4.5. DEM-Z Flag Data

The DEM-Z flag data is generated from 2nd QA data of the DEM product projected to the 3D ortho product
coordinates. The QA flag data are bit flag data which show the state of each pixel of DEM data using 8
bit flags. The lower-ranking of 5 bits show the states of the band 3N image that is used for generation of
DEM. The 3 higher-ranking bits how the states of DEM states.

Table 4-5 DEM-Z Flag Data Format

Item Description

Variable (same as VNIR image data)

Data Size (value in each product is described in DEM
Specific Metadata)

Data Type 2 dimensional data array

8 bits integer (unsigned)

Table 4-6 DEM-Z Flag Data Structure

DEM Status VNIR Status

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1: Bad / Suspect
2: Overflow / Underflow
3: Sea
4: Lake / Pond
5: Cloud
6: Abnormal Value
7: Blank Pixel
8: Interpolated Pixel

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 12

4.6. Geolocation Data

Geolocation data are image coordinate values and latitude/longitude coordinate values stored at each of
lattice points set at a certain interval on image data. Table 4-7 and Table 4-8 show the interval of lattice
points in each subsystem and the contents, respectively.

Table 4-7 Intervals of Lattice Points in Geolocation Data

No. Subsystem Interval of lattice points
1 VNIR 498 x 420
2 SWIR 249 x 210
3 TIR 83 x 70

Table 4-8 Contents of Geolocation Data

No. Type Description Unit
1 double Geocentric latitude deg.
2 double Geocentric longitude deg.
3 int Pixel coordinates pixel
4 int Line coordinates line

Taking the interchangeability with Level 1B data products into consideration, the geolocation data format is
the same for both. Level-1B data is different from 3D ortho data in that the former has a fixed number of
lattice points in the geolocation data, since the size of the image data is fixed; while in the latter, the number
of lattice points is variable due to the variable size of the image data.

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 13

4.7. Metadata
The 3D ortho meta data consists of following eight groups.

(1) Inventory Metadata

(2) ASTER Generic Metadata
(3) GDS Generic Metadata
(4) Product Specific Metadata VNIR
(5) Product Specific Metadata SWIR
(6) Product Specific Metadata TIR
(7) Bad Pixel Information
(8) Product Specific Metadata DEM

The term metadata relates to all information of a descriptive nature that is associated with a product or
dataset. This includes information that identifies a dataset, giving characteristics such as its origin,
contents, quality, and condition. Metadata can also provide information needed to decode, process and
interpret the data, and can include items such as the software that was used to create the data. Metadata
entries are described in Object Description Language (ODL) and CLASS system (for two-dimensional
arrays). Details are provided in ASTER Level-3A01 Data Products Specification. The relationship
between the metadata and the HDF attribute name is shown in Table 4-9.

Table 4-9 Relationship between Metadata and HDF Attribute Name

Metadata HDF Attribute Name

Inventory Metadata coremetadata.0

ASTER Generic Metadata productmetadata.0

GDS Generic Metadata productmetadata.1

Product Specific Metadata VNIR: productmetadata.v

SWIR: productmetadata.s
TIR; productmetadata.t
Bad Pixel Information badpixelinformation

DEM Specific Metadata DEM productmetadata.d

4.8. Supplement Data

Each subsystem instrument (VNIR, SWIR and TIR) status is described in supplement data. In details,
refer ASTER Level-3A01 Data Products Specification.

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 14

 5. Quality Information

The geometric accuracy of the 3D ortho data is defined on the basis of VNIR-3N data. Absolute
geolocation accuracy is defined by the Level 4A01X (DEM-xyz) data, and the relative geolocation
accuracy for intra- and inter-telescopes is determined by the geometric collection table (GCT) of the
Level-1A data. Table 5-1 lists the target images used in the validation process.

Geometric accuracies of Level 3A01 data obtained during initial verification work are shown below. Table
3.5 shows a list of target images used for verification

Table 5-1 List of 3D Ortho Product Verification Images

Target Area Observation Date Pointing Angle
Tsukuba June 4, 2001 0.027
(107,100,4)
Kiso-koma May 30, 2000 8.59
(109,99,7)
Saga (113,106,4) April 8, 2000 0.022

5-1. Absolute Accuracy

Table 5-2 and Table 5-3 show two examples of absolute accuracies calculated by comparing high-accuracy
GCP (required accuracy : 1.5m in a horizontal and 0.5m in an altitudinal direction) with the 3D ortho data
and its comparison with errors of the Level-4A01X data used to locate 3D ortho data.

Table 5-2 Absolute Accuracy of 3D Ortho Data Tsukuba

3D ortho DEM
lon(m) lat(m) lon(m) lat(m)
Average -15.7 -1.6 -19.8 3.4
Standard Deviation 6.4 6.2 5.3 6.6
RMSE 16.9 6.4 20.5 7.4

Table 5-3 Absolute Accuracy of 3D Ortho Data Yatsugatake

3D ortho DEM
lon(m) lat(m) lon(m) lat(m)
Average -27 11.6 -24.5 12.0
Standard Deviation 8.7 11.7 12.2 9.2
RMSE 28.4 16.5 27.4 15.2

A large geolocation errors are due to an imperfect Earth nutation correction in Level-1 processing are
reported. See Users Guide ASTER Level-1 product (section for Quality Information) for details.

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 15

5-2. Inter-telescope Band-to-band Registration Accuracy
Table 5-4 shows the iner-telescope band-to-band registration accuracy of three 3D ortho data sets.

Table 5-4 Inter-telescope Band-to-band Registration Accuracy

Tsukuba Yatsugatake Saga
Band
x y x y x y

V2-S6 Average -0.10 -0.04 -0.06 0.01 0.03 0.01

Standard Deviation 0.12 0.10 0.16 0.11 0.11 0.10
RMSE 0.16 0.11 0.17 0.11 0.12 0.10

V2-T11 Average 0.03 0.00 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.00

Standard Deviation 0.13 0.09 0.14 0.10 0.05 0.04
RMSE 0.14 0.09 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.04
Note 1--- V2: VNIR Band 2, S6: SWIR Band 6, T11: TIR Band 11
Note 2----Units are pixels of coarser resolution.

5-3 Intra-telescope Band-to-band Registration Accuracy

Tables 5-5 through Table 5-7 show the intra-telescope band-to-band registration accuracy for VNIR, SWIR
and TIR, respectively.

Table 5-5 VNIR Intra-telescope Band-to-band Registration Accuracy

Yatsugatake
Band
x y
Average 0.06 0.02
V3N-V1
Standard Deviation 0.17 0.12
RMSE 0.18 0.12
Average 0.04 0.02
V3N-V2
Standard Deviation 0.22 0.16
RMSE 0.22 0.16
Average 0.03 0.02
V2-V1
Standard Deviation 0.08 0.07
RMSE 0.09 0.08
(Unit: VNIR pixel)

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 16

 Table 5-6 SWIR Intra-telescope Band-to-band Registration Accuracy

Bamd Yatsugatake
x y
Average 0.03 -0.01
S6-S4
Standard Deviation 0.16 0.12
RMSE 0.16 0.12
Average 0.01 0.01
S6-S5
Standard Deviation 0.18 0.10
RMSE 0.18 0.10
Average -0.01 -0.09
S6-7
Standard Deviation 0.12 0.12
RMSE 0.12 0.15
Average 0.00 -0.04
S6-S8
Standard Deviation 0.14 0.11
RMSE 0.14 0.11
Average -0.01 -0.03
S6-S9
Standard Deviation 0.12 0.11
RMSE 0.12 0.11
(Unit: SWIR pixel)

ASTER User's Guide Part-III L3A01 (Ver.1.1) Page - 17

 Table 5-7 TIR Intra-telescope Band-to-band Registration Accuracy

Band Yatsugatake
x y
Average 0.00 -0.03
T11-T10
Standard Deviation 0.05 0.04
RMSE 0.06 0.05
Average 0.03 0.02
T11-T12
Standard Deviation 0.06 0.04
RMSE 0.06 0.04
Average 0.06 0.02
T11-T13
Standard Deviation 0.10 0.04
RMSE 0.11 0.05
Average 0.05 0.06
T11-T14
Standard Deviation 0.12 0.05
RMSE 0.12 0.08
(Unit: TIR pixel)

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