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Collection-6 Terra Product Descriptions: MOD04_3K

Last update: February 6, 2015

Data Set Short Name:
MOD04_3K

Data Set Long Name:
MODIS/Terra Aerosol 5-Min L2 Swath 3km

Platform:
Terra

Instrument:
MODIS

Product Description:
The MODIS level-2 atmospheric aerosol product provides retrieved ambient aerosol optical properties (e.g., optical thickness and sizedistribution), mass concentration, look-up table derived reflected andtransmitted fluxes, as well as quality assurance and other ancillaryparameters, globally over ocean and near globally over land.In Collection 5, and eariler collections, there was only one aerosol product (MOD04_L2) at 10km at nadir spatial resolution. For C6, the Dark Target (DT) Aerosol algorithm team now provides a new 3 km spatial resolution product intended for the air quality community. The short name for this product is MOD04_3k.

The MOD04_3K product is based on the same algorithm and using the same Look Up Tables as the standard Dark Target aerosol product. Because of finer resolution, subtle differences are made in selecting pixels for retrieval and in determining QA. The only differences between the existing 10km algorithm and the new 3km algorithm are: 1) the size of the pixel-arrays defining each retrieval box (used 6x6 retrieval boxes of 36 pixels at 0.5km resolution for 3km algorithm as oppose to 20x20 retrieval boxes of 400 pixels at 0.5km resolution used for 10km product); 2) the minimum percentage of “good” pixels required for a retrieval (required a minimum of 5 pixels over ocean and 6 pixels over land instead of a minimum of 10 pixels over ocean or 12 pixels over land for (more for high quality) 10km product retrieval); 3) the 10km algorithm attempts a “poor quality” retrieval while 3km algorithm does not. Everything else is the same in two products.

Production Frequency:
144 files per day

Spatial Coverage:
Global

Spatial Resolution:
3 km at nadir

File Size (MB):
~7

Citation:
We kindly request that you cite the use of this data set in a publication using the following citation.

Author (PI), et al., 2015. Product name as given on atmo web site. NASA MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Goddard Space Flight Center, USA: [link as given on atmo site].

For example:
Remer, L.A., Mattoo, S., Levy, R. C., & Munchak, L. A.. (2013). MODIS 3km aerosol product: algorithm and global perspective. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 6, 1829–1844. doi:10.5194/amt‐6‐1829‐2013

Data Authors:
Robert Levy

Dataset Originator/Creator:
MODIS Atmosphere Science Team/ MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS)

Dataset DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD04_3K.006