MODIS Atmospheric Data Handler

A number of science data sets are derived from the observations of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument onboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. These data typically contain information on retrieval techniques, quality-control flags, and geo-referencing information. These datasets, distributed in HDF (Hierachical Data Format), must be further processed to extract relevant information for weather analysis studies and numerical models input. The MODIS-Atmosphere Data Handler software converts the HDF data to ASCII format, and outputs: (1) atmospheric profiles of temperature and dew point and (2) total precipitable water. Quality-control data are also considered in the export procedure.