snow cover &hdf files
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2025 5:02 am America/New_York
Hello. Where can I download snow cover surface files with the hdf extension?
You can grab those snow cover files in hdf format straight from nasa's earthdata stuff, mostly through the nsidc daac.
the main ones come from the modis sensors on the terra and aqua satellites.
for terra, try the mod10a1f dataset, which is daily global snow cover at 500m resolution. it's in hdf-eos, and you can download it from https://nsidc.org/data/mod10a1f/versions/61. gotta sign up for an earthdata account first though.
same deal for aqua with myd10a1f at https://nsidc.org/data/myd10a1f/versions/61.
if you want more options like mod10c1 for coarser resolution at 0.05° daily global, peek at https://modis-snow-ice.gsfc.nasa.gov/?c=mod10c1 or the general modis snow page at https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataprod/mod10.php.
the earthdata search tool is handy for picking specific dates or files at https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/, just search for snow cover and pick hdf.
and if you wanna preview before downloading, use worldview at https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/. you can layer snow cover data and even export bits.