The MODIS-VIIRS Cloud Mask (MVCM) is designed to facilitate continuity in cloud detection between the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instruments on the Aqua and Terra platforms and the series of VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instruments, beginning with the Suomi NPP spacecraft. To achieve this continuity, the MODIS MVCM product does not use the identical algorithm found in the standard MODIS product (MOD35/MYD35). The MVCM-MODIS Cloud Mask is an Aqua MODIS Level-2 5-minute swath product generated at a 1000 m (at nadir) spatial resolution. The algorithm employs a series of visible and infrared threshold and consistency tests to determine the probability that an unobstructed view of the Earth's surface has been observed. Because radiometrically accurate radiances are required, holes in the cloud mask will appear wherever the input radiances are incomplete or of poor quality.

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