MODIS/Aqua Total Precipitable Water Vapor 5-Min L2 Swath 1km and 5km

Data produced by the near-infrared algorithm are generated at a 1-km spatial resolution. The other algorithm is the infrared algorithm which can be used to derive atmospheric precipitable water vapor profiles during both day and night. Data from the infrared algorithm are generated at a 5-km spatial resolution when at least nine field of views (FOVs) are cloud free.

The infrared-derived precipitable water vapor is generated as a component of product MYD07, and is simply added to product MYD05 for convenience. There are two MODIS Precipitable Water Vapor products: MOD05_L2, containing data collected from the Terra platform; and MYD05_L2, containing data collected from the Aqua platform. This dataset has a short name of MYD05_L2 and provides data from the Aqua platform only.

The MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS) is currently generating an improved version 6.1 (061) for all MODIS Level-1 (L1) and higher-level Level-2 (L2) & Level-3 (L3) Atmosphere Team products. The decision to create a new improved Collection 6.1 (061) was driven by the need to address a number of issues in the current Collection 6 (006) Level-1B (L1B) data, which have a negative impact in varying degrees in downstream products.

It should be noted that the near-infrared algorithm refinement for this product is no longer being supported by NASA and as such there has been no update to this algorithm for Collection 6.1. For more information, visit the MODIS Atmosphere website.