MODIS/Aqua Clouds: Global Swath Data at 1km and 5km Resolution

Global satellite data from the MODIS/Aqua instrument provides cloud optical and physical parameters at 1km and 5km spatial resolution. The MYD06_L2 product contains derived parameters including cloud top temperature, height, optical thickness, effective particle radius, and cloud phase, retrieved from infrared, visible, and near-infrared radiances. Each file covers a five-minute time interval, supporting investigations into seasonal and inter-annual changes in global cloud cover and properties.

Use Cases

• Investigating seasonal changes in cirrus cloud cover based on cloud fraction and phase data.
• Analyzing cloud radiative effects using derived cloud optical thickness and effective emissivity.
• Studying cloud microphysics and precipitation processes using effective particle radius and cloud phase.
• Validating climate and weather models with global, high-resolution cloud top temperature and height observations.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution (1km) global observations of cloud properties.
• Offers multi-spectral retrievals from infrared, visible, and near-infrared channels for comprehensive cloud characterization.
• Data is produced by a major space agency (NASA), suggesting a high standard of processing and calibration.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable from the provided sources.
• A last updated date of 2026-04-10 appears on one platform, which is a future date and may indicate a metadata error.
• The dataset's license is listed only as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Remotely sensed data from the MODIS instrument aboard the Aqua satellite.

Freshness

2026-04-10 00:22:31.546754

Geography

Global