Temperature Profiles from MODIS

MODIS global temperature Jan 2015 — MODIS global temperature 8-January-2015. Copyright: UHH/CEN/AJB

Topics

Access

RESTRICTED:This link to the data set is only available for a restricted user group. The data set is only accessible in CEN/MPI net or accessible from external nets with a customer account. Please contact ICDC if you would like to access this data from outside the network.

View MODIS Temperature data at LAS: AQUA | TERRA (use pulldown menu in LAS to select parameters)
Access MODIS Temperature data via OPeNDAP: AQUA | TERRA
Data access via file system:
- /data/icdc/atmosphere/modis_aqua_watervapor_pwc_temperature
- /data/icdc/atmosphere/modis_terra_watervapor_pwc_temperature

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Description

MODIS stands for MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. This sensor, equipped with over 30 spectral channels from the visible into the infrared frequency range operates from aboard the EOS-TERRA and EOS-AQUA satellites since 2000 and 2002, respectively. Thanks to its high spectral resolution and the large number of different channels a large number of different atmospheric parameters can be retrieved. Here we refer to the temperature profile data set.

Similar to the data sets of the "MODIS atmospheric water vapor and precipitable water content" atmospheric temperature profiles are derived by means of a statistical regression analysis. Vertical profiles of temperature, moisture and ozone measured globally by radiosondes are used to compute MODIS infrared band radiances using a radiative transfer / transmission model. A regression analysis between the computed radiances and the measured atmospheric profiles is carried out to derive the regression coefficients. These are subsequently applied to the actual MODIS radiance measurements to retrieve the profiles of atmospheric parameters - here the temperature.

More information about the data sets can be found on the MODIS-Atmosphere Group webpage and in the literature, see references section - here in particular in the article by King et al. (2003).

This is part of the level-3 MOD08/MYD08 data set derived from level-2 MOD07/MYD07 data of the MODIS Collection 6.1 product family.

Last update of data set at ICDC: July 11, 2024.

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Parameters

Parameters of the MODIS temperature data set: This is part of a composite data set (see MODIS water vapor).
Name	Unit	Comments
Mean Atmospheric Temperature Profile	K	20 pressure levels
Atmospheric Temperature Profile Standard Deviations	K	20 pressure levels
Number of valid used level-2 (5 km x 5 km) grid-cell values	-	20 pressure levels

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Coverage, spatial and temporal resolution

Period and temporal resolution:

2000-02-24 to 2024-06-30 (MODIS EOS-TERRA)
2002-07-04 to 2024-06-30 (MODIS EOS-AQUA)
Daily

Coverage and spatial resolution:

Global
Spatial resolution: 1° x 1°, cartesian grid
Geographic longitude: 180°W to 180°E
Geographic latitude: 90°S to 90°N
Dimension: 360 columns x 180 rows
Altitude: 20 pressure levels: 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 70, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500, 620, 700, 780, 850, 920, 950, 1000 hPa

Format:

NetCDF

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Data quality

The offered temperature profile data contain as a measure of uncertainty the standard deviation of all level-2 grid cells used for the computation of the Level-3 product.

This data set is from Collection 6.1 of the MODIS product family. Hence a substantial number inconsistencies and potential retrieval problems, which have been identified in the past version (4, 5), has been taken care of in the Collection 6 product family; this newest MODIS product release, 6.1. improves over the 6.0 version by mitigating the influence of electronic cross-talk between the atmospheric bands.

We refer to the documents listed in the references section..

Missing days:

TERRA: August 7-18 2000; June 16 - July 2 2001; March 20-27 & April 15 2002; December 21-22 2008
AQUA: July 30 - August 6 2002

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Contact

Steve Platnick
MODIS - Atmosphere Level-3 Product Group
NASA / GSFC
email: steve.platnick (at) nasa.gov

Eva Borbas
MODIS - Atmosphere Profile Retrieval Group
NASA / GSFC
email: eva.borbas (at) nasa.gov

Stefan Kern
University of Hamburg
email: stefan.kern (at) uni-hamburg.de

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References

MODIS ATBD for Level-3 Global Gridded Atmosphere Products (Collection 006, v4.3) (pdf, nicht barrierefrei)
Hubanks, P, (2017): Collection 6.1 Change Document MODIS Atmosphere Level-3 Global Products, Adnet Systems, Lanham, MD, Version 1.0, August 23 2017, 20 pp. (pdf, nicht barrierefrei)
MODIS Standard Collection 6.1 Update, https://atmosphere-imager.gsfc.nasa.gov/documentation/collection-61
Lyapustin, A., et al., (2014), Scientific impact of MODIS C5 calibration degradation and C6+ improvements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4353-4365. (pdf, nicht barrierefrei)
King, M. D., et al., (2003), Cloud and aerosol properties, precipitable, water, and profiles of temperature and water vapor, Trans. Geosci. Rem. Sens., 41(2), 442-458.
Moeller, C., et al., (2017) Improvements to Terra MODIS L1B, L2, and L3 science products through using crosstalk corrected L1B radiances, Proc. SPIE 10402, Earth Observing Systems XXII; doi:10.1117/12.2274340, http://doi.org/10.1117/12.2274340
Seemann, S.W., et al. (2008), Development of a global infrared land surface emissivity database for clear sky atmospheric sounding retrievals from satellite-based radiance measurements. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, doi:10.1175/2007JAM1590.1, 47(1), 108-123.
Borbas, E. E., et al., Collection 6.1 Change Document TERRA MOD07 Atmospheric Profiles Products, (pdf, nicht barrierefrei)
MOD08_D3 - MODIS/Terra Aerosol Cloud Water Vapor Ozone Daily L3 Global 1Deg CMG, https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/products/MOD08_D3

Websites:

MODIS - Atmosphere Group Webpage, http://modis-atmos.gsfc.nasa.gov/
LAADS DAAC, https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/

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Data citation

Please cite the data as follows:

Platnick, S., et al., 2017. MODIS Atmosphere L3 Daily Product. NASA MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Goddard Space Flight Center, USA: http://dx.doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD08_D3.061 [last accessed: July 3, 2024]

(if MODIS EOS-AQUA data are used accordingly: dx.doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD08_D3.061)

and with the following acknowledgments:

Original MODIS collection 6.1 temperature profile data provided in hdf format by https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/ were downloaded in netCDF file format from the ICDC, CEN, University of Hamburg.

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License

Please refer to the original data sources for license information.