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Description

The MCD19A2 Version 6.1 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

Improvements/Changes from Previous Versions

  • The Version 6.1 Level-1B (L1B) products have been improved by undergoing various calibration changes that include: changes to the response-versus-scan angle (RVS) approach that affects reflectance bands for Aqua and Terra MODIS, corrections to adjust for the optical crosstalk in Terra MODIS infrared (IR) bands, and corrections to the Terra MODIS forward look-up table (LUT) update for the period 2012 - 2017.
  • A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB).
  • The MCD19 Version 6.1 products have added 250 m resolution bands.
  • The previous BRDF product (MCD19A3) was reported once every eight days and the new MCD19A3D is a daily product.
  • MCD19A3D introduces gap-filled NDVI and gap-filled 250 m NBAR.
  • Snow Fraction, Snow Fit, and Snow Grain size layers were moved from MCD19A1 to the MCD19A3D.
  • There are four additional Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) products: MCD19A1CMGL, MCD19A1GO, MCD19A2CMG, and MCD19A3CMG.

Product Summary

Platforms
Aqua,
Terra
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent
N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
1000 Meters x 1000 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-02-24 to Present
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
c2324689816-lpcloud
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
2G
Published
Updated

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. (2022). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.061 Date Accessed: 2025-07-15

Data Center Citation

Alexei Lyapustin, Yujie Wang. 2022. MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V061. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA: NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.061.

Documents

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD) The Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) describes the physical and mathematical algorithms for the product.
GENERAL DOCUMENTATION The File Specification provides a description of the product file including Scientific Data Sets and their attributes.
PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT The LDOPE Land Product Quality Assessment website provides known issues, maneuvers, and product quality of the land products.
SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION Further details regarding MODIS land product validation for the MCD19 data products are available from the MODIS Land Team Validation site.
SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION Validation at stage 1 has been achieved for the MODIS MAIAC products.

Learning Resources

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