MOD10A1 / MYD10A1 snow products

MOD10A1 and MYD10A1 are tiles of daily snow cover at 500 m spatial resolution. The daily observation selected from multiple observations in a MOD10A1 (or MYD10A1) cell is the observation acquired nearest nadir and having the greatest coverage of the grid cell.

The daily MOD10A1 and MYD10A1 snow products are tiles of data gridded in the sinusoidal projection. Tiles are approximately 1200 x 1200 km in area. A single scientific data set (SDS) of snow cover and a single SDS of QA data along with local and global attributes comprise the data product file. The daily level 3 snow product is the result of selecting an observation from the multiple observations mapped to a cell of the MOD10_L2G (or MYD10_L2G) product. The Terra product, MOD10A1, is validated (stage 2); the Aqua product, MYD10A1, is provisional. See the validation webpage for further details and validation definitions.

Example Images and Data

Click on the thumbnail image to open a larger view of the image. To download the corresponding data for this image, click on the HDF data file listed directly below the thumbnail.

May 5, 2002 snow cover Kazakhstan MOD10A1.2002125.hdf.gz

Image Color Legend: white snow pink cloud grey no data / night green snow/cloud free land blue water

An algorithm has been developed to map snow albedo using MODIS data. In deriving albedo, atmospherically-corrected MODIS surface reflectances in individual MODIS bands for snow-covered pixels located in non-forested areas are adjusted for anisotropic scattering effects using a DIScrete Ordinates Radiative Transfer model (DISORT) and snow optical properties (Klein and Stroeve 2002). Currently in the algorithm, snow-covered forests are considered to be Lambertian reflectors. The adjusted spectral albedos are then combined into a broadband albedo measurement using a narrow-to-broadband conversion scheme developed specifically for snow by Shunlin Liang (written communication 2003) (Liang 2000; Klein and Hall 2000; Klein and Stroeve 2002). Thus derived, a near-global snow albedo product at 500-m resolution is available from February 2000 to the present as an enhancement to the daily snow-cover product (MOD10A1).

The snow albedo product is experimental and is considered a beta product. The snow albedo product will not be produced in Collection 5.

Click on each of the thumbnail images below to open a larger view of each image. To download the corresponding data for these images, click on the HDF data file listed directly below the thumbnails.

Jan 7, 2004 snow cover   snow albedo

Southwestern Canada MOD10A1.A2004007.h13v04.004.hdf.gz

For a full description of the MOD10A1 and MYD10A1 products, see the Snow Products User Guide.

References

Klein, A.G. and J. Stroeve, 2002: "Development and validation of a snow albedo algorithm for the MODIS instrument," Annals of Glaciology, 34:45-52.

Shunlin Liang, written communication, 2003.

Liang, S., 2000: "Narrow to broadband conversion of land surface albedo I: algorithms, Remote Sensing of Environment 76:213-238.

Klein, A.G., D.K. Hall and A.W. Nolin, 2000: "Development of a Prototype Snow Albedo Algorithm for the NASA MODIS Instrument," Proceedings of the 57th Eastern Snow Conference, 18-19 May 2000, Syracuse, NY, pp. 143-157.