SAFARI 2000 MAPSS MOD05_L2 Water Vapor Summary Data for Southern Africa

The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Atmosphere Group develops remote sensing algorithms for deriving sets of atmospheric parameters from MODIS radiance data. These parameters can be integrated into conceptual and predictive global models. MODIS Atmosphere Products Subset Statistics (MAPSS) are generated over important locations around the world, as one of the ways to increase the scope of application of the MODIS atmospheric parameters. This MAPSS data set contains daily time series of the MODIS MOD05_L2 water vapor product over seventeen (17) AERONET sunphotometer measurement sites in southern Africa for the period February 24, 2000, through March 4, 2002. The process of generating the statistics involves identifying these locations on the MODIS MOD05_L2 product, extracting the values of the pixel corresponding to each coordinate point as well as surrounding pixels falling within a 50 x 50 km box centered on the coordinate point. The data product consists of column water-vapor amounts. During the daytime, a near-infrared algorithm is applied over clear land areas of the globe and above clouds over both land and ocean. Over clear ocean areas, water-vapor estimates are provided over the extended glint area. An infrared algorithm for deriving atmospheric profiles is also applied both day and night for Level 2. The data files are stored as ASCII tables in comma-separated-value (.csv) format. There is one file per site per year for each of the following two variables: total column precipitable water vapor (infrared retrieved) and total column precipitable water vapor (near-infrared retrieved).