The Level-3 MODIS Atmosphere Monthly Global Product contains roughly 800 statistical datasets that are derived from the Level-3 MODIS Atmosphere Daily Global Product. It should be noted that the content of this product is identical to the Eight-Day Global Product, only the temporal scale is different. There are two MODIS Monthly Global data product files: MOD08_M3, containing data collected from the Terra platform; and MYD08_M3, containing data collected from the Aqua platform.

Statistics are sorted into 1x1 degree cells on an equal-angle grid that spans a (calendar) monthly interval and then summarized over the globe.

Computed Statistics

A range of statistical summaries are computed, depending on the parameter being considered. Statistics for a given measurement might include:

• Simple (mean, minimum, maximum, standard deviation) statistics
• Parameters of normal and log-normal distributions
• Fraction of pixels that satisfy some condition (e.g. cloudy, clear)
• Histograms of the quantity within each grid box
• Histograms of the confidence placed in each measurement
• Histograms and/or regressions derived from comparing one science parameter to another, statistics may be computed for a subset that satisfies some condition