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Description
The MCD19A2 Version 6.1 data product is a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua combined Multi-angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Land Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) gridded Level 2 product produced daily at 1 kilometer (km) pixel resolution. The MCD19A2 product provides the atmospheric properties and view geometry used to calculate the MAIAC Land Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Factor (BRF) or surface reflectance, MCD19A1 product.
The MCD19A2 AOD data product contains the following Science Dataset (SDS) layers: blue band AOD at 0.47 µm, green band AOD at 0.55 µm, AOD uncertainty, fine mode fraction over water, column water vapor over land and clouds (in cm), smoke injection height (m above ground), AOD QA, AOD model at 1km, cosine of solar zenith angle, cosine of view zenith angle, relative azimuth angle, scattering angle, and glint angle at 5km. A low-resolution browse image is also included showing AOD of the blue band at 0.47 µm created using a composite of all available orbits.
Each SDS layer within each MCD19A2 Hierarchical Data Format 4 (HDF4) file contains a third dimension that represents the number of orbit overpasses. This factor could affect the total number of bands for each SDS layer.
Known Issues
Known issues are described in Section 6 of the User Guide.
Users should be aware that they may see a dip in AOD values for the first 5 months of 2022. A fix is planned to be implemented in Collection 7.
Version Description
The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6.1 AOD data products: (1) Version 6.1 Level-1B (L1B) products have been improved by undergoing various calibration changes that include: changes to the response-versus-scan angle (RVS) approach that affects reflectance bands for Aqua and Terra MODIS, corrections to adjust for the optical crosstalk in Terra MODIS infrared (IR) bands, and corrections to the Terra MODIS forward look-up table (LUT) update for the period 2012 – 2017, and (2) A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB).
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
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MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/MODAPS)
Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.
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Citation Copied
Lyapustin, A., & Wang, Y. (2022). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.061 Date Accessed: 2026-04-29
Lyapustin, Alexei, and Yujie Wang. “MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V061.” NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2022. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.061. Date Accessed: 2026-04-29
Lyapustin, Alexei, and Yujie Wang. MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Aerosol Optical Depth Daily L2G Global 1km SIN Grid V061. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2022, doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A2.061. Date Accessed: 2026-04-29
File Naming Convention
MCD19A2.A2023081.h22v02.061.2023082164002.hdf
The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD19A2) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition (AYYYYDDD), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile (h22v02), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date of Production (YYYYDDDHHMMSS), and the Data Format (hdf).
Chen, Jhao-Hong, Puttu, Uma, Huynh, Han N., Ahern, Adam T., Ball, Katherine, Bates, Kelvin H., Brock, Charles A., Campos, Teresa, Coggon, Matthew M., Crounse, John D., de Gouw, Joost, DiGangi, Joshua P., Diskin, Glenn S., Gkatzelis, Georgios I., Halliday, Hannah S., Hu, Lu, Koss, Abigail R., Li, Yanshun, Lyu, Ming, Michailoudi, Georgia, Murphy, Shane M., Nowak, John B., Palm, Brett B., Peischl, Jeff, Permar, Wade, Perring, Anne E., Pokhrel, Rudra P., Schafer, Nell B., Schwarz, Joshua P., Sekimoto, Kanako, Selimovic, Vanessa, Stockwell, Chelsea E., Sullivan, Amy P., Thornton, Joel A., Wagner, Nicholas L., Wang, Siyuan, Warneke, Carsten, Wennberg, Paul O., Zeng, Linghan, Yokelson, Robert J., Weber, Rodney J., Xu, Lu
The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this
dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements
collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on
satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and
model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band
have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the
designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR).
Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill
Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze
the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables.
Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data,
user guide, and/or other product documentation.
For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.