Snow Cover/Sea Ice

sample snow cover thumbnail

MODIS snow cover data are based on a snow mapping algorithm that employs a Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) and other criteria tests. The MODIS snow product suite is composed of products covering a range of spatial and temporal resolutions, from 500 m to 0.05°, and from swath to daily, to 8-day to monthly. All products provide fractional snow cover, and snow albedo is provided in the 500 m resolution products. The overall absolute accuracy of the 500 m resolution products is ~93%, varying by land cover and snow condition. The snow products are used by climatologists, and by modelers both as input to hydrological models, e.g., to develop snow cover depletion curves, and to compare with GCM output.
The MODIS sea ice product is the sea ice extent and ice-surface temperature (IST) measured during daylight and darkness. The sea ice algorithm uses a Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) modified for sea ice to distinguish sea ice from open ocean based on reflective and thermal characteristics. The sea ice product suite is composed of both swath and gridded products at a range of spatial and temporal resolutions, from 1 km to 0.05° (or ~4 km), and temporal resolutions ranging from swath to daily with gridded data in a polar grid (EASE-grid). IST under frozen conditions is accurate to ±1.6 K.

Product PI: George Riggs
PI-maintained product web page

User Guide

ATBD

See links below to the Product Description pages located at the NSIDC DAAC (product details, data access links, and more....), see also the MODIS Overview page there.