The level-2 MODIS Temperature and Water Vapor Profile Product MYD07_L2 consists of 30 gridded parameters related to atmospheric stability, atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles, total atmospheric water vapor, and total ozone. All of these parameters are produced for both daytime and nighttime conditions at 5-km pixel resolution when at least 9 FOVs are cloud free.

The atmospheric profiles are produced at 20 vertical atmospheric levels (5., 10., 20., 30., 50., 70., 100., 150., 200., 250., 300., 400., 500., 620., 700., 780., 850., 920., 950., 1000. mbar) The water vapor parameter is an estimate of the total tropospheric column water vapor made from integrated MODIS infrared retrievals of atmospheric moisture profiles in clear scenes. The thermal band 9.6 micron is used for retrieving total ozone burden.

The shortname for this Level-2 MODIS atmospheric profile product is MYD07_L2 and the principal investigator for this product is MODIS scientist Dr. Paul Menzel ( paulm@ssec.wisc.edu).The MYD07_L2 product contains data that has a spatial resolution (pixel size) of 5 x 5 kilometers (at nadir). Each MYD07_L2 product file covers a five-minute time interval, which means that the output grid is 270 5-km pixels in width and 406 5-km pixels in length for nine consecutive granules. Every tenth granule has an output grid size of 270 by 408 pixels.

MYD07_L2 product files are stored in Hierarchical Data Format(HDF-EOS). Twenty eight of the 30 gridded cloud parameters(5-kilometer pixel resolution) are stored as Scientific Data Sets (SDS) within the file, the remaining two algorithmic static parameters (band number and presure level) are stored as Vdata(table arrays). Cloud Mask SDS, derived from the 1-km MYD35_L2 Cloud Mask parameter, is remapped to 5-km resolution, by using only the center 1-km pixel in the 5x5 pixel retrieval array. The remaining two (band number and static pressure levels) are stored as Vdata(table arrays) Each file is roughly 8 MB in size, and the total data volume is approximately 2 GB/day. MYD07_L2 Data Group and Parameters:
Spatial and Temporal Resolution: Latitude and Longitude Scan start time

Solar and Sensor Viewing Geometry:

Solar zenith and Solar azimuth angle Sensor zenith and Sensor azimuth angle

Static Algorithm Parameters: MODIS band number Pressure levels Atmospheric

Surface Pressure:

Retrieved Geopotential Height Profile Tropopause Height Surface Elevation Surface Pressure

Atmospheric and Surface Temperature: Guess and Retrieved Temperature Profiles Brightness Temperature and Skin Temperature

Atmospheric Moisture:

Guess Mixing ratio Profile Retrieved Dew Point Temperature Profile

Atmospheric Stability Indices:

Total Totals, Lifted Index, and K-index

Atmospheric Trace Gases:

Total Ozone Burden Total Column Precipitable Water Vapor - IR Retrieval Total Column Precipitable Water Vapor - Direct IR Retrieval Water Vapor(Low and High) Retrieved Water Vapour Mixing Ratio Profile

Quality Assurance and Statistical Parameters:

Quality Assurance Parameters Run time QA flags MODIS Cloud Mask Processing Flag

These parameters are very essential in the characterization of the atmosphere, atmospheric correction of remotely sensed surface parameters, and prediction of convective clouds and thunderstorms.

For more information about the MOD07_L2 product, visit the MODIS-Atmosphere site at:

https://modis-atmos.gsfc.nasa.gov/products/atm-profile