2026-07-14T01:01:59Zhttp://nsidc.org/api/dataset/metadata/oaioai:nsidc.org/MOD29.0062026-06-24T19:16:40Zcumulusecsretirednasa_nsidc_daac
MOD29.006MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent 5-Min L2 Swath 1kmHall, D. K. & Riggs, G.MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent 5-Min L2 Swath 1km2015-05-27Boulder, Colorado USANASA NSIDC DAAC: NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center6false10.5067/MODIS/MOD29.006https://nsidc.org/sites/default/files/mod29-v006-userguide_1.pdfMOD29Technical ContactNSIDCUser Servicesnsidc@nsidc.org1-303-492-61991-303-492-2468CIRES, 449 UCBUniversity of ColoradoBoulderCO80309-0449USAEARTH SCIENCECRYOSPHERESEA ICEICE EXTENT EARTH SCIENCECRYOSPHERESEA ICEICE TEMPERATURE Climatology/Meteorology/AtmosphereImagery/Base Maps/Earth CoverAntarcticArcticClimatologyDAACEASE-GridECSEOSDISGlobal ChangeGriddedIce Surface TemperatureISTMODISMODIS-projectNASANSIDCRemote Sensingsea-iceSea IceSwathMODISModerate-Resolution Imaging SpectroradiometerTerraEarth Observing System, Terra (AM-1)2000-02-242023-02-17deprecated-9090-180180GEOGRAPHIC REGIONGLOBAL OCEAN1 km1 km5 minuteAll MODIS/Terra sea ice products are considered validated or at stage 2 meaning that accuracy has been assessed over a widely distributed set of locations and time periods via several ground-truth and validation campaigns.
Quality indicators for MODIS sea ice data can be found in the following three places:
* AutomaticQualityFlag and the ScienceQualityFlag metadata objects and their corresponding explanations: AutomaticQualityFlagExplanation and ScienceQualityFlagExplanation located in the CoreMetadata.0 global attributes
* Custom local attributes associated with each Scientific Data Set (SDS), for example Ice Surface Temperature
* The Pixel QA SDS that accompanies each data field, for example, Ice Surface Temperature Pixel QA.
These quality indicators are generated during production or in post-production scientific and quality checks of the data product. For more information on local and global attributes, go to one of the following links:
* MOD29 and MYD29 Local Sea Ice Attributes, Version 5
* MOD29 and MYD29 Global Sea Ice Attributes, Version 5
An AutomaticQualityFlag for each SDS is automatically set according to conditions for meeting data criteria in the algorithm. In most cases, the flag is set to either Passed or Suspect, and in rare instances, it may be set to Failed. Suspect means that a significant percentage of the data were anomalous and that further analysis should be done to determine the source of anomalies. The AutomaticQualityFlagExplanation contains a brief message explaining the reason for the setting of the AutomaticQualityFlag. The ScienceQualityFlag and the ScienceQualityFlagExplanation maybe updated after production, either after an automated QA program is run or after the data product is inspected by a qualified scientist. Content and explanation of this flag are dynamic so it should always be examined if present in the external metadata file. In the MYD29 data product, there are two instances of the ScienceQualityFlagExplanation, one for sea ice determined by reflectance data and one for IST written in the metadata
The sea ice algorithm identifies missing data and reports them in the output product. Certain expected anomalous conditions may exist with the input data such as a few missing lines or unusable data from the MODIS sensor. In these cases, the algorithm makes no decision for an affected pixel. Summary statistics are calculated for these conditions and reported as Valid EV Obs Band X percent and Saturated EV Obs Band X percent local attributes. Where X equals 2, 4, or 6 for Sea Ice by Reflectance and 31 or 32 for IST (Riggs, Hall, and Salomonson 2003).
The IST Pixel QA and the Sea Ice by Reflectance Pixel QA data fields provide additional information on algorithm results for each pixel within a MODIS scene, and are used as a measure of usefulness for sea ice data. The QA data are stored as coded integer values and tells if algorithm results were nominal, abnormal, or if other defined conditions were encountered for a pixel. For example, intermediate checks for theoretical bounding of reflectance data and the NDSI ratio are made in the algorithm. Reflectance values should lie within the 0-100 percent range, and the NDSI ratio should lie within the -1.0 to +1.0 range. If these limits are violated, the test for sea ice is still done, but the quality flag is set to Other quality in the Pixel QA field (Riggs, Hall, and Salomonson 2003).
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: MODIS Land Quality Assessment Web site provides updated quality information for each product.These data have been retired and are no longer accessible.These data have been retired and are no longer available for use. Cite any prior or planned use of these data according to the recommended citation at https://nsidc.org/about/data-use-and-copyright. For more information on the NASA EOSDIS Data Use Policy, see https://earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-observation-data/data-use-policy.EnglishNASA NSIDC DAACNASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Centerhttps://nsidc.org/daacData Center ContactNSIDCUser Servicesnsidc@nsidc.org1-303-492-6199National Snow and Ice Data CenterCIRES, 449 UCBUniversity of ColoradoBoulderCO80309-0449USAHTTPS0.5 - 6.0 MBXMLHTTPS0.5 - 6.0 MBJPEGHTTPS0.5 - 6.0 MBHDF-EOS2Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). 1996. EOS Ground System (EGS) systems and operations concept. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hall, Dorothy K., J. L. Foster, D. L. Verbyla, A. G. Klein, and C. S. Benson. 1998. Assessment of snow cover mapping accuracy in a variety of vegetation cover densities in central Alaska. Remote Sensing of the Environment 66:129-137.
Hall, Dorothy K., Jeffrey R. Key, Kimberly A. Casey, George A. Riggs, and Donald Cavalieri. May 2004. Sea ice surface temperature product from MODIS. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 42:5.
Hall, Dorothy K. and J. Martinec. 1985. Remote sensing of ice and snow. London: Chapman and Hall.
Hall, Dorothy K., George A. Riggs, and Vincent V. Salomonson. 1995. Development of methods for mapping global snow cover using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Remote Sensing of the Environment 54(2): 127-140.
Hall, Dorothy K., George A. Riggs, and Vincent V. Salomonson. September 2001. Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) for the MODIS Snow-, Lake Ice- and Sea Ice-Mapping Algorithms. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hall, Dorothy K., George A. Riggs. 2006. Assessment of errors in the MODIS suite of snow-cover products. Hydrological Processes.
Hapke, B. 1993. Theory of reflectance and emittance spectroscopy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Key, J. R., J. B. Collins, Chuck Fowler, and R. S. Stone. 1997.High latitude surface temperature estimates From thermal satellite data. Remote Sensing of the Environment 61:302-309.
Key, J. R., J. A. Maslanik, T. Papakyriakou, Mark C. Serreze, and A. J. Schweiger. 1994. On the validation of satellite-derived sea ice surface temperature. Arctic 47:280-287.
Markham, B. L. and J. L. Barker. 1986. Landsat MSS and TM post-calibration dynamic ranges, exoatmospheric reflectances and at-satellite temperatures. EOSAT Technical Notes 1:3-8.
MODIS Characterization and Support Team (MCST). 2000. MODIS Level-1B product user's guide for Level-1B Version 2.3.x Release 2. MCST Document #MCM-PUG-01-U-DNCN.
Pearson II, F. 1990. Map projections: theory and applications. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Inc.
Riggs, George A., Dorothy K. Hall, and Vincent V. Salomonson. February 2003. MODIS sea ice products user guide.
Riggs, George A., Dorothy K. Hall, and S. A. Ackerman. 1999. Sea ice extent and classification mapping with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator. Remote Sensing of the Environment 68: 152-163.
Scambos, Ted A., Terry M. Haran, and Robert Massom. In press. Validation of AVHRR and MODIS Ice Surface Temperature Products Using In Situ Radiometers. Annals of Glaciology 44.
Wiscombe, W. J. and S. G. Warren. 1980. A Model for the Spectral Albedo of Snow I: Pure Snow. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 37:2712-2733.The MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent 5-Min L2 Swath 1km (MOD29) data set contains 1 km resolution sea ice extent, ice surface temperature, and quality assessment data, plus 5 km resolution geolocation data.
As of August 2023, this data set is retired and no longer available for download. We recommend using <a href="https://nsidc.org/data/mod29/versions/61">MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent 5-Min L2 Swath 1km, Version 61</a> as an alternative.VIEW RELATED INFORMATIONhttps://nsidc.org/sites/default/files/mod29-v006-userguide_1.pdfMODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent 5-Min L2 Swath 1km, Version 6 User GuidePROJECT HOME PAGEhttp://nsidc.org/data/modis/MODIS Data at NSIDCCEOS IDN DIFVERSION 9.92015-05-272026-06-24NSIDCVersion SummarySea ice extent and ice surface temperature algorithms and data sets are the same as Version 5. However, revisions and improvements for Version 6 to algorithm inputs have improved sea ice outputs as follows:
<ul>
<li>Revised calibration of MOD02 thermal bands 31 and 32 decreased calculated brightness temperatures by about -0.01 K and improved accuracy for very cold scenes;</li>
<li>The Version 6 land/water mask in the MOD03 geolocation product increased the accuracy of water body and coastline maps;</li>
<li>Revisions to the MOD35_L2 cloud mask algorithm have increased the accuracy of cloud detection.</li>
</ul>NSIDCMinor VersionNSIDCLevel of ServiceNo Data AccessNSIDCFull Dataset CitationHall, D. K. & Riggs, G. (2015). <i>MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent 5-Min L2 Swath 1km</i>. (MOD29, Version 6). [Data Set]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD29.006">https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD29.006</a>. [<i><describe subset used if applicable></i>].NSIDCRetiredtrueNSIDCRelated Toolsapplication/vnd.nasa.cmr.umm+jsonfalsefritzdimmt_tool_50907TL3010466318-NSIDC_CPRDNSIDC_CPRD5tool2026-06-24T18:30:53.034Zhttps://zenodo.org/badge/latestdoi/399867529DOWNLOAD SOFTWAREhttps://earthaccess.readthedocs.io/en/stable/DistributionURLNSIDC_CPRD_EARTHACCESSDownloadable Tool0.18.0earthaccessearthaccess is a python library to search and access NASA Earth science data with just a few lines of code.https://github.com/earthaccess-dev/earthaccessVIEW RELATED INFORMATIONGitHub RepositoryPublicationURLDATA ACCESS/RETRIEVALDATA MANAGEMENT/DATA HANDLINGEARTH SCIENCE SERVICESDATA SEARCHDATA MANAGEMENT/DATA HANDLINGEARTH SCIENCE SERVICESPUBLISHERNSIDC DAAC User ServicesEmailnsidc@nsidc.orgPUBLISHERNASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Centerhttps://nsidc.org/daac/NASA NSIDC DAACPUBLISHERNational Snow and Ice Data Centerhttp://nsidc.orgNSIDCDEVELOPERAlaska Satellite Facilityhttps://www.asf.alaska.edu/ASFDEVELOPERInstitute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshirehttp://www.eos.unh.edu/UNH/EOSDEVELOPERAtmospheric Science Data Center, Science Directorate, Langley Research Center, NASAhttps://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/NASA/LARC/SD/ASDCMIT License
Copyright (c) 2021 Luis Lopez
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.2026-05-12T00:00:00.000ZAs a condition of use, we request that you properly cite the earthaccess library to acknowledge the creators. Formal citations also make it easier for us to track the use and impact of our data and tools, and helps us report data distribution activity and tool usage metrics to funding agencies.
If you have used earthaccess in your research, please cite as:
Barrett, A., Battisto, C., Bourbeau, J., Fisher, M., Kaufman, D., Kennedy, J., Lopez, L., Lowndes, J., Scheick, J., & Steiker, A. (2024). earthaccess (Version 0.9.0) [Computer software]. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8365009
See https://github.com/nsidc/earthaccess/releases for more information on the latest version.https://cdn.earthdata.nasa.gov/umm/tool/v1.0UMM-T1.0Python3.8 or higherhttps://earthaccess.readthedocs.io/en/stable/application/vnd.nasa.cmr.umm+jsonfalsecrumlydmmt_tool_12821TL4019517520-NSIDC_CPRDNSIDC_CPRD1tool2026-02-11T17:45:02.724ZGOTO WEB TOOLhttps://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/searchDistributionURLNSIDC_CPRD_NASA_Earthdata_SearchWeb User Interface1NASA Earthdata SearchSearch and order data from all NASA DAACs using spatial and temporal filters in a map interface. Reformatting, reprojecting, and subsetting options are available for some data sets.https://nsidc.org/support/how/search-order-and-customize-nsidc-daac-data-nasa-earthdata-searchVIEW RELATED INFORMATIONHow to search, order, and customize data with NASA Earthdata SearchPublicationURLDATA VISUALIZATIONDATA ANALYSIS AND VISUALIZATIONEARTH SCIENCE SERVICESDATA SEARCHDATA MANAGEMENT/DATA HANDLINGEARTH SCIENCE SERVICESDATA ACCESS/RETRIEVALDATA MANAGEMENT/DATA HANDLINGEARTH SCIENCE SERVICESSERVICE PROVIDERNSIDC DAAC User ServicesEmailnsidc@nsidc.orgSERVICE PROVIDEREarthdata Service DeskEmailsupport@earthdata.nasa.govAUTHORDEVELOPERORIGINATORPUBLISHERMaintenance and Development, Earth Observing System Data and Information System, Earth Observing System,Goddard Space Flight Center, NASAhttp://newsroom.gsfc.nasa.gov/NASA/GSFC/EOS/EOSDIS/EMDChromeFirefoxSafariThis is the most current release of this tool.https://cdn.earthdata.nasa.gov/umm/tool/v1.0UMM-T1.0https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search