This dataset contains Daily Snow Cover Fraction (snow on ground) from MODIS, produced by the Snow project of the ESA Climate Change Initiative programme. Snow cover fraction on ground (SCFG) indicates the area of snow observed from space on land surfaces, in forested areas corrected for the transmissivity of the forest canopy. The SCFG is given in percentage (%) per pixel. The global SCFG product is available at about 1 km pixel size for all land areas, excluding Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets. The coastal zones of Greenland are included. The SCFG time series provides daily products for the period 2000 – 2019. The SCFG product is based on Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data on-board the Terra satellite. The retrieval method of the snow_cci SCFG product from MODIS data has been further developed and improved based on the ESA GlobSnow approach described by Metsämäki et al. (2015) and complemented with a pre-classification module developed by ENVEO. For the SCFG product generation from MODIS, multiple reflective and emissive spectral bands are used. In a first step, clouds are masked using an adapted version of the Simple Cloud Detection Algorithm version 2.0 (SCDA2.0) (Metsämäki et al., 2015). All cloud free pixels are then used for the snow extent mapping, using spectral bands centred at about 550 nm and 1.6 µm, and an emissive band centred at about 11 µm. The snow_cci snow cover mapping algorithm is a two-step approach: first, a strict pre-classification is applied to identify all cloud free pixels which are certainly snow free. For all remaining pixels, the snow_cci SCFG retrieval method is applied. Improvements to the GlobSnow algorithm implemented for snow_cci version 1 include (i) the utilisation of background and forest reflectance maps derived from statistical analyses of MODIS time series replacing the constant values for snow free ground and snow free forest used in the GlobSnow approach, and (ii) the usage of a global forest transmissivity map developed and created within snow_cci based on forest density from Hansen et al. (2013) and forest type layers from Land Cover CCI (Defourny, 2019). The forest transmissivity map is used to account for the shading effects of the forest canopy and estimate also in forested areas the fractional snow cover on ground. Permanent snow and ice, and water areas are masked based on the Land Cover CCI data set of the year 2000. Both classes were separately aggregated to the pixel spacing of the SCFG product. Water areas are masked if more than 30 percent of the pixel is classified as water, permanent snow and ice areas are masked if more than 50 percent are identified as such areas in the aggregated map. The product uncertainty for observed land pixels is provided as unbiased root mean square error (RMSE) per pixel in the ancillary variable. The SCFG product is aimed to serve the needs for users working in the cryosphere and climate research and monitoring activities, including the detection of variability and trends, climate modelling and aspects of hydrology, meteorology, and biology. ENVEO is responsible for the SCFG product development and generation from MODIS data, SYKE supported the development. There are a few days without any MODIS acquisitions in the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2016 and 2018. On several days in the years 2000 to 2006, and on a few days in the years 2012, 2015 and 2016, the acquired MODIS data have either only limited coverage, or some of the MODIS data were corrupted during the download process. For these days, the SCFG products are available but have data gaps.

This dataset contains Daily Snow Cover Fraction of viewable snow from the MODIS satellite instruments, produced by the Snow project of the ESA Climate Change Initiative programme. Snow cover fraction viewable (SCFV) indicates the area of snow viewable from space over all land surfaces. In forested areas this refers to snow viewable on top of the forest canopy. The SCFV is given in percentage (%) per pixel. The global SCFV product is available at about 1 km pixel size for all land areas, excluding Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets. The coastal zones of Greenland are included. The SCFV time series provides daily products for the period 2000 – 2019. The SCFV product is based on Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data on-board the Terra satellite. The retrieval method of the snow_cci SCFV product from MODIS data has been further developed and improved based on the ESA GlobSnow approach described by Metsämäki et al. (2015) and complemented with a pre-classification module developed by ENVEO. For the SCFV product generation from MODIS, multiple reflective and emissive spectral bands are used. In a first step, clouds are masked using an adapted version of the Simple Cloud Detection Algorithm version 2.0 (SCDA2.0) (Metsämäki et al., 2015). All cloud free pixels are then used for the snow extent mapping, using spectral bands centred at about 550 nm and 1.6 µm, and an emissive band centred at about 11 µm. The snow_cci snow cover mapping algorithm is a two-step approach: first, a strict pre-classification is applied to identify all cloud free pixels which are certainly snow free. For all remaining pixels, the snow_cci SCFV retrieval method is applied. Improvements to the GlobSnow algorithm implemented for snow_cci version 1 include (i) the utilisation of a background reflectance map derived from statistical analyses of MODIS time series replacing the constant values for snow free ground used in the GlobSnow approach, and (ii) the adaptation of the retrieval method for mapping in forested areas the SCFV. Permanent snow and ice, and water areas are masked based on the Land Cover CCI data set of the year 2000. Both classes were separately aggregated to the pixel spacing of the SCFV product. Water areas are masked if more than 30 percent of the pixel is classified as water, permanent snow and ice areas are masked if more than 50 percent are identified as such areas in the aggregated map. The product uncertainty for observed land pixels is provided as unbiased root mean square error (RMSE) per pixel in the ancillary variable. The SCFV product is aimed to serve the needs for users working in the cryosphere and climate research and monitoring activities, including the detection of variability and trends, climate modelling and aspects of hydrology, meteorology, and biology. ENVEO is responsible for the SCFV product development and generation from MODIS data, SYKE supported the development. There are a few days without any MODIS acquisitions in the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2016 and 2018. On several days in the years 2000 to 2006, and on a few days in the years 2012, 2015 and 2016, the acquired MODIS data have either only limited coverage, or some of the MODIS data were corrupted during the download process. For these days, the SCFV products are available but have data gaps.

The Cloud_cci MODIS-Terra dataset was generated within the Cloud_cci project (http://www.esa-cloud-cci.org) which was funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme (Contract No.: 4000109870/13/I-NB). This dataset is one of the 6 datasets generated in Cloud_cci; all of them being based on passive-imager satellite measurements. This dataset is based on MODIS (onboard Terra) measurements and contains a variety of cloud properties which were derived employing the Community Cloud retrieval for Climate (CC4CL) retrieval system. The core cloud properties contained in the Cloud_cci MODIS-Terra dataset are cloud mask/fraction, cloud phase, cloud top pressure/height/temperature, cloud optical thickness, cloud effective radius and cloud liquid/ice water path. Spectral cloud albedo is also included as experimental product. Level-3C product files contain monthly averages and histograms of the mentioned cloud properties together with propagated uncertainty measures.

Cloud properties derived from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite by the ESA Cloud CCI project. The L3U datasets consists of cloud properties from L2 data granules remapped to a global space grid of 0.1 degree in latitiude and longitude, without combining any observations from overlapping orbits; only sampling is done. Common notations for this processing level are also L2b and L2G. Data is provided with a temporal resolution of 1 day. This dataset is version 1.0 data from Phase 1 of the CCI project.

Cloud properties derived from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite by the ESA Cloud CCI project. The L3C dataset consists of data combined (averaged) from a single instrument into a global space-time grid, with a spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees lat/lon and a temporal resolution of 1 month. This dataset is version 1.0 data from Phase 1 of the CCI project.

Cloud properties derived from the merged series of MODIS instruments from NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites by the ESA Cloud CCI project. The L3S dataset consists of data combined (averaged) from into a global space-time grid, with a spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees lat/lon and a temporal resolution of 1 month. This dataset is version 1.0 data from Phase 1 of the CCI project.

The ESA Fire Climate Change Initiative (CCI) dataset collection consists of maps of global burned areas for years 2005 to 2011, developed from satellite observations. The products are based upon spectral information from the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), on board the ESA ENVISAT satellite, and thermal information from the MODIS active fires product. The Grid product is derived from the Pixel product by summarising its burned area information into a regular grid covering the Earth for 15-day periods with 0.25 degree resolution. Information on burned area is included in 22 individual layers: sum of burned area, standard error, fraction of observed area, number of patches and the burned area for 18 land cover classes, as defined by the Land Cover CCI v1.6.1 product. For further information on the product and its format see the Fire_cci product user guide in the linked documentation.

This dataset contains permafrost extent data produced as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Permafrost project. It forms part of the second version of their Climate Research Data Package (CRDP v2). It is derived from a thermal model driven and constrained by satellite data. Grid products of CDRP v2 are released in annual files, covering the start to the end of the Julian year. This corresponds to average annual ground temperatures (at 2 m depth) which forms the basis for the retrieval of yearly fraction of permafrost-underlain and permafrost-free area within a pixel. A classification according to the IPA (International Permafrost Association) zonation delivers the well-known permafrost zones, distinguishing isolated (0-10%) sporadic (10-50%), discontinuous (50-90%) and continuous permafrost (90-100%). Case A: This covers the Northern Hemisphere (north of 30°) for the period 2003-2019 based on MODIS Land Surface temperature merged with downscaled ERA5 reanalysis near-surface air temperature data. Case B: This covers the Northern Hemisphere (north of 30°) for the period 1997-2002 based on downscaled ERA5 reanalysis near-surface air temperature data which are bias-corrected with the Case A product for the overlap period 2003-2019 using a pixel-specific statistics for each day of the year.

The ESA Fire Disturbance Climate Change Initiative (CCI) project has produced maps of global burned area derived from satellite observations. These MODIS Fire_cci v5.1 pixel products are distributed as 6 continental tiles and are based upon data from the MODIS instrument onboard the TERRA satellite at 250m resolution for the period 2001-2020. This product supersedes the previously available MODIS v5.0 product. The v5.1 dataset was initially published for 2001-2017, and has later been periodically extended to include 2018 to 2020. The Fire_cci v5.1 Pixel product described here includes maps at 0.00224573-degrees (approx. 250m) resolution. Burned area(BA) information includes 3 individual files, packed in a compressed tar.gz file: date of BA detection (labelled JD), the confidence level (CL, a probability value estimating the confidence that a pixel is actually burned), and the land cover (LC) information as defined in the Land_Cover_cci v2.0.7 product. Files are in GeoTIFF format using a geographic coordinate system based on the World Geodetic System (WGS84) reference ellipsoid and using Plate Carrée projection with geographical coordinates of equal pixel size. For further information on the product and its format see the Fire_cci Product User Guide in the linked documentation.

This dataset contains permafrost active layer thickness data produced as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Permafrost project. It forms part of the second version of their Climate Research Data Package (CRDP v2). It is derived from a thermal model driven and constrained by satellite data. Grid products of CDRP v2 are released in annual files, covering the start to the end of the Julian year. The maximum depth of seasonal thaw is provided, which corresponds to the active layer thickness. Case A: This covers the Northern Hemisphere (north of 30°) for the period 2003-2019 based on MODIS Land Surface temperature merged with downscaled ERA5 reanalysis near-surface air temperature data. Case B: This covers the Northern Hemisphere (north of 30°) for the period 1997-2002 based on downscaled ERA5 reanalysis near-surface air temperature data which are bias-corrected with the Case A product for the overlap period 2003-2019 using a pixel-specific statistics for each day of the year.