MODIS/Terra Near Real Time (NRT) Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 1km

The MODIS Level 1B Near Real Time (NRT) data set contains calibrated and geolocated at-aperture radiances for 36 discrete bands located in the 0.4 to 14.4 micron region of electromagentic spectrum. These data are generated from the MODIS Level 1A scans of raw radiance and in the process converted to geophysical units of W/(m^2 um sr). In addition, the Earth Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) may be determined for the solar reflective bands (1-19, 26) through knowledge of the solar irradiance (e.g., determined from MODIS solar diffuser data, and from the target illumination geometry). Additional data are provided including quality flags, error estimates and calibration data. Visible, shortwave infrared, and near infrared measurements are only made during the daytime, while radiances for the thermal infrared region (bands 20-25, 27-36) are measured continuously. Channel locations for MODIS are as follows: Band Center Wavelength (um) Primary Use---- ---------------------- -----------1 0.620 - 0.670 Land/Cloud Boundaries2 0.841 - 0.876 Land/Cloud Boundaries3 0.459 - 0.479 Land/Cloud Properties4 0.545 - 0.565 Land/Cloud Properties5 1.230 - 1.250 Land/Cloud Properties6 1.628 - 1.652 Land/Cloud Properties7 2.105 - 2.155 Land/Cloud Properties8 0.405 - 0.420 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton9 0.438 - 0.448 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton10 0.483 - 0.493 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton11 0.526 - 0.536 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton12 0.546 - 0.556 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton13 0.662 - 0.672 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton14 0.673 - 0.683 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton15 0.743 - 0.753 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton16 0.862 - 0.877 Ocean Color/Phytoplankton17 0.890 - 0.920 Atmospheric Water Vapor18 0.931 - 0.941 Atmospheric Water Vapor19 0.915 - 0.965 Atmospheric Water Vapor20 3.660 - 3.840 Surface/Cloud Temperature21 3.929 - 3.989 Surface/Cloud Temperature22 3.929 - 3.989 Surface/Cloud Temperature23 4.020 - 4.080 Surface/Cloud Temperature24 4.433 - 4.498 Atmospheric Temperature25 4.482 - 4.549 Atmospheric Temperature26 1.360 - 1.390 Cirrus Clouds27 6.535 - 6.895 Water Vapor Profile28 7.175 - 7.475 Water Vapor Profile29 8.400 - 8.700 Water Vapor Profile30 9.580 - 9.880 Ozone Overburden31 10.780 - 11.280 Surface/Cloud Temperature32 11.770 - 12.270 Surface/Cloud Temperature33 13.185 - 13.485 Cloud Top Altitude34 13.485 - 13.785 Cloud Top Altitude35 13.785 - 14.085 Cloud Top Altitude36 14.085 - 14.385 Cloud Top Altitude Channels 1 and 2 have 250 m resolution, channels 3 through 7 have 500m resolution, and the rest have 1 km resolution. However, for the MODIS L1B 1 km product, the 250 m and 500 m band radiance data and their associated uncertainties have been aggregated to 1km resolution. Thus the entire channel data set is referenced to the same spatial and geolocation scales. Separate L1B products are available for the 250 m channels (MOD02QKM) and 500 m channels (MOD02HKM) that preserve the original resolution of the data. Spatial resolution for pixels at nadir is 1 km, degrading to 4.8 km in the along-scan direction at the scan extremes. However, thanks to the overlapping of consecutive swaths and respectively pixels there, the resulting resolution at the scan extremes is about 2km. A 55 degree scanning pattern at the EOS orbit of 705 km results in a 2330km orbital swath width and provides global coverage every one to two days. A single MODIS Level 1B granule will nominally contain a scene built from 203 scans (or swaths) sampled 1354 times in the cross-track direction, corresponding to approximately 5 minutes worth of data. Since an individual MODIS scan (or swath) will contain 10 along-track spatial elements, the scene will be composed of (1354 x 2030) pixels, resulting in a spatial coverage of (2330 km x 2030 km). Due to the MODIS scan geometry, there will be increasing overlap occurring beyond about 25 degrees scan angle. To summarize, the MODIS L1B 1 km data product consists of: 1. Calibrated radiances and uncertainties for (2) 250 m reflected solar bands aggregated to 1km resolution 2. Calibrated radiances and uncertainties for (5) 500 m reflected solar bands aggregated to 1 km resolution 3. Calibrated radiances and uncertainties for (13) 1 km reflected solar bands and (16) infrared emissive bands 4. Geolocation subsampled at every 5th pixel across and along track 5. Satellite and solar angles subsampled at the above frequency 6. Comprehensive set of file-level metadata summarizing the spatial, temporal and parameter attributes of the data, as well as auxiliary information pertaining to instrument status and data quality characterization. The MODIS L1B data are stored in the Earth Observing System Hierarchical Data Format (HDF-EOS) which is an extension of HDF as developed by the National Center for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois. A typical file size will be approximately 260 MB. Environmental information derived from MODIS L1B measurements will offer a comprehensive and unprecedented look at terrestrial, atmospheric, and ocean phenomenology for a wide and diverse community of users throughout the world. The Shortname for this product is MOD021KM

Tags: earth-science-infrared-wavelengths-spectral-engineering-infrared-radiance, earth-science-infrared-wavelengths-spectral-engineering-reflected-infrared, earth-science-infrared-wavelengths-spectral-engineering-thermal-infrared, earth-science-visible-wavelengths-spectral-engineering-visible-radiance
Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration