Near Real-Time MODIS/Terra L3 Global Daily 500m SIN Grid Snow Cover, Grain Size, and Dust Radiative Forcing, Version 1

This data set represents an updated version of the MODIS Snow Covered Area and Grain-size (MODSCAG) and MODIS Dust Radiative Forcing in Snow (MODDRF) data sets previously produced by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Data are derived from NASA LANCE near real-time MODIS/Terra surface reflectance data (<a href="lance.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/modis/">MOD09GA_NRT</a>) but are not themselves near real-time, nor part of NASA LANCE.

This data set contains the following parameters: snow fraction, snow grain size (from the SCAG algorithm), vegetation fraction, rock fraction, ice fraction, shade fraction, deltavis, radiative forcing, and optical snow grain size (from the DRFS algorithm). Data are available from 1 November 2023 to the present for 18 regions in North America, and from 01 April 2025 to present over the South Island of New Zealand and the Andes mountains in Chile.