An error involving incorrect Clear Sky Radiances was found in the Collection 051 Terra reprocessing in HDF files with data dates prior to April 1, 2010 (2010 091) and processing dates prior to September 28, 2010 (2010 271). The error impacts all Cloud-related (Cloud Top and Cloud Optical Property) SDSs. Note that this error did not impact forward-stream Terra C051 HDF files with data dates on or after April 1, 2010 (2010 091); nor did this error impact any Aerosol or Water Vapor SDS's.

A new corrected Collection 051 Terra reprocessing effort began again on calendar date September 28, 2010 (2010 271). All Terra Collection 051 with a data date prior to April 1, 2010 (2010 091) and a processing date prior to September 28, 2010 (2010 271), will be marked as a temporary Collection of 519.

It is imperative that users of Cloud-related parameters not use Collection 519 Terra data (which was distributed as Collection 051 prior to October 2010), but instead use Collection 005 data or wait for the second reprocessing of Collection 051 data. This second (corrected) reprocessing of Collection 051 data can be identified by an HDF file data date before April 1, 2010 (2010 091) and an HDF file production date after September 28, 2010 (2010 271). Both the data date and production date are a part of the HDF filename (see details)

Finally, any Collection 051 HDF file with a data date on or after April 1, 2010 (2010 091) was not impacted by this problem and is considered correct (irreguardless of the HDF file production date).

View the MODIS Data Processing & Availability Calendar to see the status of data availabile in various Collections.

Information provided by Paul Hubanks, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center