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Full catalog/MYD06_L2
MYD06_L2·v6.1NRT·dataset

Cloud properties, near-real-time (Aqua, 1 km)

MODIS/Aqua Clouds 5-Min L2 Swath 1km and 5km - NRT
atmosphere NASA LANCEMODIS Level 2 HDF-EOS
In plain English

What it measures. Cloud characteristics such as cloud-top temperature and height, ice-versus-water phase, cloud thickness, and particle size, for both day and night conditions.

How it's made. Calculated from infrared, visible, and near-infrared light captured by MODIS on NASA's Aqua satellite, processed quickly into near-real-time five-minute swaths.

How & where you'd use it. Its near-real-time availability suits rapid weather and atmospheric monitoring where waiting for the fully processed version isn't practical.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › ATMOSPHERIC EMITTED RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › EMISSIVITYATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › RADIATIVE FLUXATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › REFLECTANCEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › TRANSMITTANCEATMOSPHERE › CLOUDSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD CONDENSATION NUCLEIATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD DROPLET CONCENTRATION/SIZEATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD LIQUID WATER/ICEATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD ASYMMETRYATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD CEILING

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2017-10-20 → ongoing
  • Measured byAQUA (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 level-2 MODIS cloud product consists of cloud optical and physical parameters. 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. 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. For more information about the MODIS Cloud product, visit the MODIS-Atmosphere site at: https://modis-atmos.gsfc.nasa.gov/products/cloud For more details regarding dataset changes read the document at https://modis-atmos.gsfc.nasa.gov/documentation/collection-61

Get the data

myd06_l2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MYD06_L2",
    version="6.1NRT",
    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 LANCEMODIS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.