Eight-Day Land Surface Temperature Averages at 1km Resolution

MOD11A2 v061 provides an average 8-day per-pixel Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity with a 1 kilometer spatial resolution. The product is generated by NASA's Terra MODIS instrument and was last updated in June 2025. Each pixel is a simple average of all corresponding daily LST observations collected within an 8-day compositing period.

Use Cases

• Modeling urban heat island effects by analyzing daytime and nighttime surface temperature bands across metropolitan areas.
• Assessing land cover change impact on surface temperature using bands 31 and 32 emissivities from different land cover types.
• Filtering data for high-confidence observations by applying associated quality control assessments to each temperature measurement.
• Analyzing seasonal temperature cycles from the 8-day time-series data spanning multiple years.
• Correcting for sensor viewing geometry in temperature analysis using the provided view zenith angles for each pixel.

Strengths

• Provides data at a consistent 1 kilometer spatial resolution for global analysis.
• Uses an 8-day compositing period aligned with the exact ground track repeat of the Terra and Aqua satellite platforms.
• Includes multiple associated data layers like quality control, observation times, and view angles alongside core temperature bands.

Limitations

• Spatial resolution of 1km may be too coarse for localized studies requiring field-level detail.
• The 8-day average product may smooth out short-term, high-intensity temperature events captured in daily data.
• Data quality and availability are dependent on cloud cover, as indicated by the clear-sky coverage bands.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing, with pixel values calculated as a simple average of all corresponding MOD11A1 LST pixels within an 8-day period.

Freshness

Data was last updated in June 2025, indicating active maintenance.

Geography

Global coverage in a 1,200 by 1,200 km grid tile structure.