MODIS/Aqua: Daily Ocean Surface Reflectance at 1km Resolution

A daily global land product providing surface spectral reflectance estimates from the Aqua MODIS satellite's bands 8-16, corrected for atmospheric conditions. The data, produced by NASA, was decommissioned on July 31, 2023, and uses a 1-kilometer pixel size on a sinusoidal grid. The product employs a 'best available pixel' selection method and is stored in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) files.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean color and phytoplankton concentrations based on surface spectral reflectance data.
• Analyzing daily changes in surface radiative properties based on the 1km gridded product.
• Assessing atmospheric correction algorithms based on the data's corrections for gasses, aerosols, and Rayleigh scattering.
• Studying land surface reflectance in coastal zones based on the product's bands, which are also used for ocean analysis.

Strengths

• Data is atmospherically corrected for gasses, aerosols, and Rayleigh scattering.
• Provides a daily global product with a consistent 1-kilometer pixel resolution.
• Employs a 'best available pixel' selection method from multiple observations.

Limitations

• The dataset was decommissioned on July 31, 2023, limiting its use for current monitoring.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Known issues exist and require consultation of an external quality assessment website.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite observations from the Aqua MODIS instrument, processed to Level 2 Gridded Lite (L2G-lite).

Time Range

Daily coverage until decommissioning on July 31, 2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026 03 12 23:48:59.728156; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage on a sinusoidal grid.