Name: MODIS/Aqua Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 5
Creator: National Snow and Ice Data Center
Keywords: ALBEDO,SNOW COVER

MODIS/Aqua Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 5

Data set id:

MYD10A1

DOI: 10.5067/ZFAEMQGSR4XD

Data Citation and Acknowledgment
As a condition of using these data, you must cite the use of this data set. Such a practice gives credit to data set producers and advances principles of transparency and reproducibility.

Hall, D. K., Salomonson, V. V. & Riggs, G. A. (2006). MODIS/Aqua Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m SIN Grid. (MYD10A1, Version 5). [Data Set]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ZFAEMQGSR4XD. [describe subset used if applicable]. Date Accessed 09-23-2025.

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There is a more recent version of these data.

Overview

The MODIS/Aqua Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m Grid (MYD10A1) contains snow cover, snow albedo, fractional snow cover, and Quality Assessment (QA) data in compressed Hierarchical Data Format-Earth Observing System (HDF-EOS) format along with corresponding metadata. MYD10A1 consists of 1200 km by 1200 km tiles of 500 m resolution data gridded in a sinusoidal map projection. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow cover data are based on a snow mapping algorithm that employs a Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) and other criteria tests.

Parameter(s):

ALBEDO

SNOW COVER

Platform(s):

Aqua

Sensor(s):

MODIS

Data Format(s):

HDF-EOS2

Temporal Coverage:

4 July 2002 to 1 January 2017

Temporal Resolution:

1 day

Spatial Resolution:

500 m

500 m

Spatial Reference System(s):

Not Specified

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.

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Data Access & Tools

This data set has been retired. There is a more recent version of these data.

Documentation

User Guide

MODIS/Aqua Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 5 User Guide

General Resources

MOD10A1/MYD10A1 Global and Local Snow Cover Attributes, Version 5

Help Articles

General Questions & FAQs

Can I merge different MODIS collections?

For the snow cover and sea ice products, users can use MODIS Collections 6 and 6.1 together.

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How do I access data using OPeNDAP?

OPeNDAP, the Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol, is a NASA community standard DAP that provides a simple way for researchers to access and work with data over the internet.

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.

Missing and delayed MODIS data

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.

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

The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) is migrating its primary data access from its legacy, on-premises archive to the NASA Earthdata Cloud.

How to Articles

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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.

This step-by-step tutorial demonstrates how to access MODIS and SMAP data using the Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS). AppEEARS allows users to access, explore, and download point and area data with spatial, temporal, and parameter subsets.

NASA Earthdata Cloud Data Access Guide

The NASA Earthdata Cloud is the NASA cloud-based archive of Earth observations. It is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Learn how to find and access NSIDC DAAC data directly in the cloud.

Programmatic Data Access Guide

All data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) is directly accessible through our HTTPS file system using Wget or curl. This article provides basic command line instructions for accessing data using this method.

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