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Full catalog/MODATML2
MODATML2·v6.1·dataset

Haze, clouds and water vapor together (Terra, 5-10 km)

MODIS/Terra Aerosol, Cloud and Water Vapor Subset 5-Min L2 Swath 5km and 10km
atmosphere NASA LAADS Level 2 active HDF-EOS
In plain English

What it measures. A compact bundle of atmosphere readings combined in one file: airborne haze (aerosols), cloud properties, and water vapor, sampled across the satellite's view at roughly 5 to 10 kilometer detail.

How it's made. Pulled together from MODIS observations on the Terra satellite, this is a subset that samples the larger set of atmosphere products into a smaller, more convenient package.

How & where you'd use it. A practical, smaller file for researchers who want to build their own multi-day summaries of haze, cloud, and moisture without downloading many separate large products.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL PARTICLE PROPERTIES › EFFECTIVE PARTICLE RADIUSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD TOP PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD TOP TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD RADIATIVE TRANSFER › CLOUD REFLECTANCE › CIRRUS REFLECTANCEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › HUMIDITY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-24 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The MODIS/Terra Aerosol, Cloud and Water Vapor Subset 5-Min L2 Swath 5km and 10km (MODATML2) product contains a combination of key high interest science parameters. The ATML2 product provides a subset of datasets from the suite of atmosphere team products on both a 10 km scale (aerosols) and 5km scale (native 5 km cloud properties and a 5x5 pixel sample of the 1km cloud datasets). The ATML2 product employs the same 5x5 pixel sampling scheme for the 1km native resolution Level 2 products as is used in the MOD08 Level 3 global aggregated product, an approach that has been shown to retain statistical integrity for multi-day aggregations. The C6 significantly increases the number of datasets included in the ATML2 product, including the full suite of QA datasets. Since the ATML2 data granule file size is significantly smaller than the combined size of the individual L2 products, and because the 1 km pixel sampling is consistent with the L3 algorithm, the ATML2 product is a more practical means for the user community to develop research L3 algorithms for their own specific purposes. For more information, visit the MODIS Atmosphere website at: https://modis-atmos.gsfc.nasa.gov/products/joint-atm

Get the data

modatml2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MODATML2",
    version="6.1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LAADS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.