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Description

The MCD19A2 Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MCD19A2 Version 6.1 data product.

The MCD19A2 Version 6 data product is a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua combined Multi-angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Land Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) gridded Level 2 product produced daily at 1 kilometer (km) pixel resolution. The MCD19A2 product provides the atmospheric properties and view geometry used to calculate the MAIAC Land Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Factor (BRF) or surface reflectance, MCD19A1 product.

The MCD19A2 AOD data product contains the following Science Dataset (SDS) layers: blue band AOD at 0.47 µm, green band AOD at 0.55 µm, AOD uncertainty, fine mode fraction over water, column water vapor over land and clouds (in cm), smoke injection height (m above ground), AOD QA, AOD model at 1km, cosine of solar zenith angle, cosine of view zenith angle, relative azimuth angle, scattering angle, and glint angle at 5km. A low-resolution browse image is also included showing AOD of the blue band at 0.47 µm created using a composite of all available orbits.

Each SDS layer within each MCD19A2 Hierarchical Data Format 4 (HDF4) file contains a third dimension that represents the number of orbit overpasses. This factor could affect the total number of bands for each SDS layer.

Known Issues

  • The longname in the internal metadata is provided incorrectly. The correct longname is "MODIS/Terra and Aqua MAIAC Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G 1 km SIN Grid."
  • Additional known issues are described on page 14 of the User Guide.
  • For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

Version Description

Terra and Aqua combined MAIAC data products were introduced in MODIS Version 6.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra ,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
1000 Meters x 1000 Meters
Spatial Reference System(s)
MODIS Sinusoidal Tiling System
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-02-26 to 2023-02-17
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) ,
MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/MODAPS)
Concept ID
C2763289461-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
2G
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Lyapustin, A., & Wang, Y. (2018). MCD19A2 MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.006 Date Accessed: 2026-02-26

File Naming Convention

MCD19A2.A2002281.h33v11.006.2018017104530.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD19A2) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2002281), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h33v11), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2018017104530), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
Gap-filling MODIS daily aerosol optical depth products by developing a spatiotemporal fitting algorithm Zhang, T.
Spatiotemporal pattern and long-term trend of global surface urban heat islands characterized by dynamic urban-extent method and MODIS data Si, M.
Long-term changes in aerosol loading over the ‘BIHAR’ State of India using nineteen years (2001–2019) of high-resolution satellite data (1 × 1 km2) Nair, M.
The environmental story during the COVID-19 lockdown—How human activities affect PM2.5 concentration in China? Tan, Z. Y.
Evaluation of trophic state for inland waters through combining Forel-Ule Index and inherent optical properties Liu, Y.
Aerosol retrieval algorithm for Sentinel-2 images over complex urban areas Yang, Y.
High spatiotemporal resolution PM2.5 concentration estimation with machine learning algorithm—A case study for wildfire in California Cui, Q.
Characteristics of the severe March 2021 Gobi Desert dust storm and its impact on air pollution in China Filonchyk, M.
Temporal and spatial distribution mapping of particulate matter in southwest of Iran using remote sensing, GIS, and statistical techniques Soleimany, A.
Vegetation activity enhanced in India during the COVID-19 lockdowns—Evidence from satellite data Ranjan, A. K.
SHOWING 10 OF 85

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
AOD_MODEL AOD model used in retrieval N/A uint8 255 0 to 100 N/A
AOD_QA AOD QA N/A uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
AOD_Uncertainty AOD uncertainty based on blue-band surface brightness (reflectance) N/A int16 -28672 -100 to 30000 0.0001
Column_WV Column Water Vapor (cm) over land cm int16 -28672 0 to 30000 0.001
cosSZA Cosine of Solar zenith angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 0 to 10000 0.0001
cosVZA Cosine View zenith angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 0 to 10000 0.0001
FineModeFraction Fine mode fraction for ocean N/A int16 -28672 0 to 10000 0.0001
Glint_Angle Glint Angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -18000 to 18000 0.01
Injection_Height Smoke injection height (m above ground) Meters float32 -99999 0 to 10000 N/A
Optical_Depth_047 Blue band (0.47 μm) aerosol optical depth over land N/A int16 -28672 -100 to 5000 0.001
Optical_Depth_055 Green band (0.55 μm) aerosol optical depth over land N/A int16 -28672 -100 to 5000 0.001
RelAZ Relative azimuth angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -18000 to 18000 0.01
Scattering_Angle Scattering Angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -18000 to 18000 0.01
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