MODIS snow cover (MOD10A1, MOD10A2, MOD10A1F)#

modis-snow · theme snow · live

Terra and Aqua MODIS daily NDSI snow cover, the 8-day maximum snow extent and the cloud-gap-filled daily product at 500 m, from NSIDC (all six products) or Planetary Computer (the two COG mirrors).

import easysnowdata as esd

aoi = (-121.94, 46.72, -121.54, 46.99)   # Mount Rainier
data = esd.snow.modis.load(aoi, time="2024-03")

Credentials

The default route needs earthdata; see the credentials page for the setup.

An open alternative exists: source="planetary-computer".

Sources#

2 routes serve this product; the first is the default and source= picks another. The return contract is the same either way.

source

provider

credentials

resolution

extent

temporal

latency

notes

nsidc (default)

earthdata

earthdata

500 m

global

2000-02/present

~1 day

HDF-EOS2 granules: downloaded to the cache and opened as GDAL subdatasets; needs the HDF4 driver (conda-forge libgdal-hdf4)

planetary-computer

stac

none

500 m

global

2000-02/~2025

—

COG mirror, credential-free; MOD10A2 archiving reportedly stopped in 2025 and the cloud-gap-filled product was never mirrored

Where each route points#

nsidc — NSIDC (Earthdata) live

MOD10A1 / MOD10A2 / MOD10A1F (and the MYD Aqua siblings)

planetary-computer — Planetary Computer live

modis-10A1-061 / modis-10A2-061

Variables#

variable

units

dtype

nodata

categorical

NDSI_Snow_Cover

%

uint8

255

yes (10 classes)

Maximum_Snow_Extent

—

uint8

255

yes (11 classes)

CGF_NDSI_Snow_Cover

%

uint8

255

yes (10 classes)
NDSI_Snow_Cover classes (10)

value

meaning

200

missing_data

201

no_decision

211

night

237

inland_water

239

ocean

250

cloud

251

cloud

252

cloud

254

detector_saturated

255

fill
Maximum_Snow_Extent classes (11)

value

meaning

0

missing_data

1

no_decision

11

night

25

no_snow

37

lake

39

ocean

50

cloud

100

lake_ice

200

snow

254

detector_saturated

255

fill
CGF_NDSI_Snow_Cover classes (10)

value

meaning

200

missing_data

201

no_decision

211

night

237

inland_water

239

ocean

250

cloud

251

cloud

252

cloud

254

detector_saturated

255

fill

Provenance#

Licence · NASA Earthdata (free registration)

DOI · 10.5067/MODIS/MOD10A1.061

Cite the data as

Hall, D. K. and Riggs, G. A. (2021). MODIS/Terra Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m SIN Grid, Version 61 (MOD10A1); 8-Day (MOD10A2); Cloud-Gap-Filled (MOD10A1F). NASA NSIDC DAAC.

Documentation

Loader · easysnowdata.snow.modis.load