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Description
This global Level-3 (L3) data set provides the maximum snow cover extent observed over an eight-day period within 10° x 10° MODIS sinusoidal grid tiles. Tiles are generated by compositing 500 m observations from the 'MODIS/Terra Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m Grid' data set (DOI:10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A1.061). A bit flag index is used to track the eight-day snow/no-snow chronology for each 500 m cell.
The terms "Version 61" and "Collection 6.1" are used interchangeably in reference to this release of MODIS data.
Version Description
1. The low visible reflectance screen for snow cover using bands 2 and 4 was lowered from 0.10 to 0.07.
2. Cloud mask algorithm flags are set for 'probably cloudy' and 'probably clear' sky conditions in the algorithm flags QA data set.
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.
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Hall, D., & Riggs, G. (2021). MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 8-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 61 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A2.061 Date Accessed: 2026-10-02
Hall, D. K., & Riggs, G. A. (2021). MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 8-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 61 [Data set]. NASA NSIDC DAAC. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A2.061
Hall, D., & Riggs, G. (2021). MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 8-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 61 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A2.061 Date Accessed: 2026-10-02
Hall, Dorothy, and George Riggs. “MODIS/Terra Snow Cover 8-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 61.” NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center, 2021, https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A2.061. Date Accessed: 2026-10-02
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Hammond, John C., Sexstone, Graham A., Putman, Annie L., Barnhart, Theodore B., Rey, David M., Driscoll, Jessica M., Liston, Glen E., Rasmussen, Kristen L., McGrath, Daniel, Fassnacht, Steven R., Kampf, Stephanie K.