MAC02QS0: Narrow-Swath MODIS/Aqua Radiances Along CloudSat Track

Two calibrated solar reflectance bands at 250-meter resolution provide radiance data within a 10-kilometer cross-track swath aligned with the CloudSat satellite's field of view. The dataset contains calibrated at-aperture radiances in the 0.62 to 0.88 micron spectrum, along with quality flags, error estimates, and calibration data. Its narrow-swath design specifically supports the co-analysis of MODIS observations with CloudSat's cloud profiling radar data.

Use Cases

• Analyzing land/cloud boundaries using the 0.62-0.67 and 0.841-0.876 micron spectral bands.
• Co-locating MODIS radiance observations with CloudSat radar profiles for cloud property studies.
• Determining Earth's Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) for solar reflective bands.
• Performing cross-sensor validation by comparing narrow-swath MODIS data with other satellite measurements.

Strengths

• Provides a spatially precise 10 km cross-track subset aligned with CloudSat, enabling targeted co-analysis.
• Contains calibrated radiances for two specific bands (0.620-0.670 µm and 0.841-0.876 µm) designed for land/cloud boundary detection.
• Includes ancillary data such as quality flags, error estimates, and calibration information.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, file size, and license information are unknown across all platforms.
• Conflicting freshness: one source lists a last update of 2026-04 -10, while another lists 2018-03-01, creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Geolocation resolution is limited to 1 km, which is coarser than the 250-meter radiance data.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Subset generated from MODIS/Aqua Level 1B scans, selecting pixels within ±5 km of the CloudSat track.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 2026-04-10 (datagov) and 2018-03-01 (nasa_earthdata).

Geography

Global coverage along the orbital track of the Aqua and CloudSat satellites.