MOD08_E3: 8-Day Global Atmospheric Aerosol, Cloud, and Ozone Data

MODIS/Terra MOD08_E3 provides 8-day, 1-degree gridded global averages of atmospheric parameters including aerosol properties, total ozone, water vapor, and cloud characteristics. The product contains nearly 1000 statistical datasets derived from daily observations, stored in HDF-EOS format. It supports the study of Earth's energy budget, climate interactions, and seasonal changes in global cloud cover.

Use Cases

• Investigating seasonal changes in cirrus cloud cover based on multispectral cloud optical property data.
• Modeling Earth's radiative energy budget using aerosol optical depth and atmospheric stability indices.
• Analyzing global trends in total ozone burden and atmospheric water vapor over 8-day intervals.
• Studying aerosol particle properties and their interaction with trace gases from gridded statistical parameters.

Strengths

• Contains nearly 1000 distinct statistical datasets (SDS's) for detailed atmospheric analysis.
• Provides global coverage on a consistent 1-degree by 1-degree latitude-longitude grid (360x180 pixels).
• Includes derived statistical quantities such as standard deviations and quality assurance weighted means for each parameter.

Limitations

• Specific column names and individual parameter details are not provided in the available metadata.
• Dataset size and row counts are unspecified across all source platforms.
• The 'last updated' date of 2026-04-10 appears to be a future date, indicating potential metadata inaccuracy.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the MODIS instrument aboard the Terra spacecraft.

Freshness

2026-04-10 00:13:50.825130

Geography

Global