MODIS was launched aboard the Aqua satellite on May 04, 2002 (1:30 pm equator crossing time) as part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) mission. MODIS with its 2330 km viewing swath width provides almost daily global coverage. It acquires data in 36 high spectral resolution bands between 0.415 to 14.235 micron with ... spatial resolutions of 250m(2 bands), 500m(5 bands), and 1000m (29 bands). MODIS sensor counts, calibrated radiances, geolocation products and all derived geophysical atmospheric and ocean products are archived at NASA Goddard DAAC and has been made available to public since April 2000.
MYD08_E3 is a level-3 MODIS gridded atmosphere eigh-day global joint product. It contains eight days 1 x 1 degree grid average values of atmospheric parameters related to atmospheric aerosol particle properties, total ozone burden, atmospheric water vapor, cloud optical and physical properties, and atmospheric stability indices. This product also provides standard deviations, quality assurance weighted means and other statistically derived quantities for each parameter.
The shortname for this level-3 MODIS atmosphere eight-day global product is MYD08_E3 and the principal investigators for this product are MODIS scientists: Dr. Yoram Kaufman (email@example.com) for aerosol retrieval over land; Dr. Didier Tanre (firstname.lastname@example.org) for aerosol retrieval over ocean; Dr. Bo-Cai Gao (email@example.com) for cirrus cloud detection; Dr. Paul Menzel (firstname.lastname@example.org) for cloud top properties; and Dr. Michael King (email@example.com) for cloud optical properties.
The level-3 atmosphere eight-day global product (MYD08_E3) consists of approximately 739 parameters that includes all statistically derived quantities. Essentially all level-3 MODIS atmosphere eight-day global parameters are derived from the scientific parameters of MODIS Atmosphere Daily Global Joint Product (MYD08_D3). Statistics are computed over a 1 degree equal-angle lat-lon grid that spans an 8-day interval. It should be noted that the eight-day intervals are not reset at the beginning of a new month or a new year. Since the grid cells are 1 degree by 1 degree, the output grid is always 360 pixels in width and 180 pixels in length.
MYD08_E3 product files are stored in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS). Each gridded global parameter is stored as Scientific Data Sets (SDS) within the file. For browsing and extracting data from these files, some software are made available at the site.
Aerosol over Land and Ocean: Optical Depth (0.55 micron)
Aerosol over Land: Optical Depth at 0.47 and 0.66 micron (based on Continental Aerosol Model) Corrected Optical Depths at 0.47, 0.55, 0.66 micron (based on Dynamic Aerosol Model) Corrected Optical Depths at 0.47, 0.55, 0.66 micron for Smoke, Sulfate, and Dust Aerosol Mass Concentration Angstrom Exponents for Smoke, Sulfate, and Dust Aerosol Particles
Aerosol over Ocean: Effective Optical Depth at 7 bands (0.47, 0.55, 0.66, 0.87, 1.24, 1.64, 2.13 micron) Effective Radius, Mass Concentration, Cloud Condensation Nuclei Optical Depth of Small Particles relative to Effective Optical Depth Asymmetry Factor & Back Scattering Ratio at 7 bands Angstrom Exponents 1 (based on 0.55 and 0.865 micron) & 2 (based on 0.865 and 2.13 micron)
Ozone: Total Column Ozone
Water Vapor: Total Column Precipitable Water Vapor NIR based (clear, cloudy), IR based (lower, upper levels, total)
Cloud: Cloud Top Pressure, Temperature, and Effective Emissivity(day,night, all) Cloud Particle Phase (day, night, all) Cloud Optical Thickness (water, ice, water + ice, undetermined, all phases) Effective Radius (water, ice, water + ice, undetermined, all phases) Cloud Water Path (liquid, ice, liquid + ice, undetermined, all phases) Cloud Fraction based on Visible & SWIR (cirrus, contrail, water, ice, water + ice, undetermined, all phases) Cloud Fraction based on IR (day, night, all)
Atmospheric State & Stability Indices: Total-Totals, Lifted Index, K Index
Radiation Parameters: Cirrus Cloud & Contrail Reflectance Mean Surface Reflectance for Land (5 bands) & Ocean (7 bands) Normalized Reflected Flux for Land (0.47 & 0.66 micron) & Ocean (7 bands) Normalized Transmitted Flux for Land (0.47 and 0.66 micron), Ocean(7 bands) Atmospheric Scattering Angle for Land and Ocean
Quality Assurance (QA) & Statistical Parameters: Uncertainty in Derived Parameters, Minimum, Maximum, Number of Pixels, Histograms, Correlation Parameters, QA Weighted, and other Statistically Derived Parameters
More information about the atmospheric parameters and the statistically derived parameters of MYD08_E3 product listed above are available from the MYD08_E3 web site.
The MODIS Eight-Day Product will be used in the simultaneous study of clouds, water vapor, aerosol , trace gases, land surface and oceanic properties, as well as the interaction between them and their effect on the Earth's energy budget and climate. This product will also be used to investigate seasonal and inter-annual changes in cirrus (semi-transparent) global cloud cover and cloud phase with multispectral observations at high spatial resolution.
For more information about the MYD08_E3 product, please visit the MODIS-Atmosphere site at: