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Description

The MOD44W Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 18, 2024. Users are encouraged to use the MOD44W Version 6.1 data product.

The Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Water Mask (MOD44W) Version 6 data product provides a global map of surface water at 250 meter (m) spatial resolution. The data are available annually from 2000 to 2015. MOD44W Version 6 is derived using a decision tree classifier trained with MODIS data and validated with the Version 5 MOD44W data product. A series of masks are applied to address known issues caused by terrain shadow, burn scars, cloudiness, or ice cover in oceans. A primary improvement in Version 6 is the generation of time series data rather than a simple static representation of water, given that water bodies fluctuate in size and location over time due to both natural and anthropogenic causes. Provided in each MOD44W Version 6 Hierarchical Data Format 4 (HDF4) file are layers for land, water, no data, and an associated per pixel quality assurance (QA) layer that provides users with information on the determination of water.

Known Issues

  • The mask area for pixels outside of the Sinusoidal Grid for tile h27v14 should be labeled as 250 (Outside of Projection) instead of 0 (Land) and the QA values should be 10 (Fill) instead of 3 (Lower confidence land) for years 2000 through 2015.
  • Additional known issues are described in the User Guide and ATBD.
  • For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for the MODIS Version 6 land water mask data products: (1) Corrected for errors of many misplaced rivers in South America due to limited spatial resolution of previously used input data, (2) Improved data in the far northern latitudes, (3) Water extent provided as a time series that can be used to detect changes between 2000 and 2015, (4) Increased spatial resolution of 250 m. The Version 5 product was 500 m, (5) Improved terrain shadows with slope and elevation masking, and (6) Burned areas (scars) delineated.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent

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

Spatial Resolution
250 Meters x 250 Meters
Spatial Reference System(s)
MODIS Sinusoidal Tiling System
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-01-01 to 2015-12-31
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
C2763298119-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Reflectance ,
Total Surface Water

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

Carroll, M., DiMiceli, C., Wooten, M., Hubbard, A., Sohlberg, R., & Townshend, J. (2017). MOD44W MODIS/Terra Land Water Mask Derived from MODIS and SRTM L3 Global 250m SIN Grid V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD44W.006 Date Accessed: 2026-02-16

File Naming Convention

MOD44W.A2003001.h28v14.006.2018033164227.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD44W) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2003001), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h28v14), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2018033164227), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
An open and scalable method for spatial measurement of blue economies Llewellyn, L. E.
A deep neural network based SMAP soil moisture product Gao, L.
A machine learning method for inland water detection using CYGNSS data Ghasemigoudarzi, P.
Anomalous behaviour detection using one-class support vector machine and remote sensing images: a case study of algal bloom occurrence in inland waters Ananias, P. H. M.
Gridded daily weather data for North America with comprehensive uncertainty quantification Thornton, P. E.
A global North-South division line for portraying urban development Zhang, Y.
Mapping abandoned farmland in China using time series MODIS NDVI Zhu, X.
A dual‐channel aerosol optical depth retrieval algorithm incorporating the brdf effect from avhrr over eastern asia Wang, Y.
Greening vs browning? Surface water cover mediates how tundra and boreal ecosystems respond to climate warming Li, J.
Denitrification in wetlands: A review towards a quantification at global scale Martínez-Espinosa, C.
SHOWING 10 OF 35

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
Water_mask Land/Water Mask N/A uint8 250 0 to 1 N/A
Water_mask_QA Quality Assurance (QA) N/A uint8 10 1 to 8 N/A
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