The MODIS/Aqua Clouds 5-Min L2 Swath 1km and 5km product consists of cloud optical and physical parameters. The cloud optical parameters are generated at 1km and cloud top (physical) parameters are generated at 5km resolution. These parameters are derived using remotely sensed infrared, visible and near infrared solar reflected radiances. MODIS infrared channel radiances are used to derive cloud top temperature, cloud top height, effective emissivity, cloud phase (ice vs. water, opaque vs. non-opaque), and cloud fraction under both daytime and nighttime conditions. MODIS visible radiances are used to derive cloud optical thickness and effective particle radius and cloud shadow effects. Near infrared solar reflected radiance provides additional information in the retrieval of cloud particle phase (ice vs. water, clouds vs. snow).

The shortname for this level-2 MODIS cloud product is MYD06_L2. The MYD06_L2 consists of parameters at a spatial resolution of either 1- km or 5-km (at nadir). Each MYD06_L2 product file covers a five-minute time interval. This means that for 5-km resolution parameters, the output grid is 270 pixels in width by 406 pixels in length.

C6.1 changes for the cloud optical property retrievals are low-impact, and are limited primarily to ancillary product usage, the Quality Assurance (QA), and handling of cloud top (CT) properties fill values; no updates to retrieval science are implemented.

The MODIS Cloud Product is used to investigate seasonal and inter-annual changes in cirrus (semi-transparent) global cloud cover and cloud phase with multispectral observations at high spatial (1 kilometer) resolution.

For more information about the MYD06_L2 product, visit the MODIS-Atmosphere site at:

https://modis-atmos.gsfc.nasa.gov/products/cloud