Land Surface Temperature Aggregates and Scene Observation Counts for Germany (2021-2025)

This repository contains a multi-year summer Land Surface Temperature (LST) aggregate dataset spanning the summer seasons from 2021 through 2025. The dataset uses the Landsat Level-2 Collection 2 Surface Temperature product and is thus based on the Thermal Infrared Sensors (TIRS/TIRS-2) aboard Landsat 8 and Landsat 9. The second dataset gives the amount of valid pixels that were used to calculate the mean LST value.

Cloud pixels were masked out using the Level-2 Collection 2 pixel-quality flags (QA_PIXEL) to isolate valid observations. These cloud-free scenes were then statistically aggregated by the mean value to construct a continuous, high-resolution dataset of summer thermal patterns.

The dataset is provided as two GeoTIFF rasters in the ETRS89 / LAEA Europe projection (EPSG:3035) with a spatial resolution of 30 m.


DATASETS

Dataset 1: Temperature Layer
- File Name: Germany_LST_summer_2021-2025_mean.tif
- Type: Floating Point GeoTIFF
- Units: Degrees Celsius (°C)
- Description: Represents the mean cloud-free Land Surface Temperature during the summer months (June-August) across 2021 to 2025.
- Values:
    * < 20 to > 40 = Mean summer Land Surface Temperature (°C)
    * NoData = Masked out or non-valid pixels

Dataset 2: Scene Count Layer
- File Name: Germany_LST_summer_2021-2025_scenecount.tif
- Type: Integer GeoTIFF
- Units: Valid Observation Count (Integer)
- Description: Indicates the total number of cloud-free Landsat 8 and 9 scene observations utilized in the temporal aggregation for each pixel.
- Values:
    * < 10 to > 100 = Number of valid, cloud-free scenes used in the calculation
    * 0 / NoData = No valid observations available


TECHNICAL DETAILS

- Spatial Coverage: National (Germany)
- Spatial Resolution: 30 meters (native Landsat LST Resolution: 100 m)
- Coordinate Reference System: ETRS89-extended / LAEA Europe (EPSG:3035)
- Temporal Span: 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z to 2025-08-31T23:59:59Z
- Sensors: Landsat 8 TIRS, Landsat 9 TIRS-2


CONTACT

- Contact: moritz.hertrich@dlr.de, tobias.leichtle@dlr.de
- Organization: DLR DFD-GZS