• On Wednesday, March 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (US Mountain Time), the following data collections may not be available due to planned system maintenance: ASO, AMSR Unified, AMSR-E, Aquarius, High Mountain Asia, IceBridge, ICESat/GLAS, ICESat-2, LVIS, MEaSUREs, MODIS, Nimbus, SMAP, SnowEx, SSM/I-SSMIS and VIIRS.

MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 8-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 61
Data set id:
MOD10A2
DOI: 10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A2.061
This is the most recent version of these data.
Version Summary
1. The low visible reflectance screen for snow cover using bands 2 and 4 was lowered from 0.10 to 0.07.
2. Cloud mask algorithm flags are set for 'probably cloudy' and 'probably clear' sky conditions in the algorithm flags QA data set.

Overview

This global Level-3 (L3) data set provides the maximum snow cover extent observed over an eight-day period within 10° x 10° MODIS sinusoidal grid tiles. Tiles are generated by compositing 500 m observations from the 'MODIS/Terra Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m Grid' data set (DOI:10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A1.061). A bit flag index is used to track the eight-day snow/no-snow chronology for each 500 m cell. The terms "Version 61" and "Collection 6.1" are used interchangeably in reference to this release of MODIS data.
Parameter(s):
SNOW COVER
Platform(s):
Terra
Sensor(s):
MODIS
Data Format(s):
HDF-EOS2
Temporal Coverage:
18 February 2000 to present
Temporal Resolution:
  • 8 day
Spatial Resolution:
  • 500 m
  • 500 m
Spatial Coverage:
N:
90
S:
-90
E:
180
W:
-180
Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.
Strengths and Limitations

Strengths

  • Daily snow-cover record from MODIS begins on February 24, 2000, representing more than two decades of moderate-resolution (500 m) snow-cover maps (Hall et al., 2019)
  • MODIS snow-cover products provide Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) values from 0 – 100. Users can use the NDSI as is or convert it to fractional or binary snow cover (Salomonson and Appel, 2004; Riggs et al., 2019).
  • 8-day snow-cover maps show maximum extent of snow cover over an 8-day period (Hall and Riggs, 2007).
  • 8-day snow-cover maps minimize cloud cover by using clear observations in the period, however cloud cover persisting for 8 days is mapped (Riggs et al., 2019).
  • 8-day snow-cover maps include persistent cloud cover, polar darkness and other features (Riggs et al., 2019).

Limitations

  • Snow cover may not be mapped during a given 8-day period if a snowfall occurred and resulting snow on the ground melted before the clouds cleared (Riggs et al., 2019).
  • Cloud cover is biggest limitation to use of MODIS snow-cover products, which can prevent mapping of some snow (Hall and Riggs, 2007).
  • Areas of ephemeral snow cover and very thin snow cover may not be mapped by MODIS (Hall et al., 2010).
  • Polar darkness prevents snow-cover mapping in polar regions during the winter (Riggs et al., 2019).
  • Because this product represents an 8-day period, most users would be better-served to use MOD10A1F (daily cloud-gap-filled) product instead (Hall et al., 2010; Riggs et al., 2019).  Using MOD10A1F, a unique compositing period may be selected.

Data Access & Tools

A free NASA Earthdata Login account is required to access these data. Learn More

Help Articles

General Questions & FAQs

For the snow cover and sea ice products, users can use MODIS Collections 6 and 6.1 together.
Data products from VIIRS are created to be similar to MODIS data products to ensure the continuity needed for the development of snow and sea ice climate records beyond the life expectancy of MODIS. The temporal resolution and spatial extent are identical in MODIS and VIIRS.
The lag time between observations and availability of MODIS products is only a few days. Lag time may be extended due to satellite maneuvers and extra quality assurance required for the geolocation data after the maneuver.
This short article describes the customization services available for ICESat-2 data using Earthdata Search
The Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) snow cover is an index that is related to the presence of snow in a pixel and is a more accurate description of snow detection as compared to Fractional Snow Cover (FSC). Snow typically has very high visible (VIS) reflectance and very low reflectan

How to Articles

Many NSIDC DAAC data sets can be accessed using the NSIDC DAAC's Data Access Tool. This tool provides the ability to search and filter data with spatial and temporal constraints using a map-based interface.Users have the option to
To convert HDF5 files into binary format you will need to use the h5dump utility, which is part of the HDF5 distribution available from the HDF Group. How you install HDF5 depends on your operating system.
Data subscriptions are available for select NSIDC DAAC data collections. Once signed up, the subscription service automatically sends you new data as they are delivered from active NASA satellite missions.
All data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) can be accessed directly from our HTTPS file system, using wget or curl. Basic command line instructions are provided in the article below. 
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