MYD13A3: Aqua MODIS Monthly Vegetation Indices at 1km

MODIS/Aqua Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V006 provides monthly global vegetation data at a 1-kilometer spatial resolution. The dataset includes the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), derived from atmospherically corrected surface reflectances. It is designed for monitoring vegetation conditions, land cover change, and modeling biogeochemical and climate processes.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global vegetation health and phenology based on NDVI and EVI time series.
• Modeling global biogeochemical and hydrologic processes using corrected surface reflectance bands.
• Analyzing land cover conversion and primary production from monthly aggregated indices.
• Providing continuity for historical AVHRR NDVI time series applications.

Strengths

• Provides continuity with historical NOAA AVHRR NDVI products for long-term time series analysis.
• Includes multiple data layers: two vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI), four reflectance bands, and quality assurance layers.
• Features global coverage at a consistent 1-kilometer spatial resolution.

Limitations

• The dataset (Version 6) was officially decommissioned on July 31, 2023, directing users to a newer version.
• A known issue exists with the incorrect representation of aerosol quantities in the underlying surface reflectance products.
• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, and precise temporal coverage are not provided in the available sources.

Provenance

Source

LPCLOUD (NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the Aqua MODIS instrument, processed into a gridded Level 3 product using a weighted temporal average of 16-day composites.

Freshness

2026-04-10 00:14:29.622281 (This is a future date listed as a 'last updated' field, which is likely a metadata error. A more reliable date is the decommission notice from 2023-01-31.)

Geography

Global