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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.
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
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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)
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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Citation Copied
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: 2026-05-16
Lyapustin, Alexei, and Yujie Wang. “MCD19A2 MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V006.” NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2018. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.006. Date Accessed: 2026-05-16
Lyapustin, Alexei, and Yujie Wang. MCD19A2 MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V006. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2018, doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.006. Date Accessed: 2026-05-16
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).