MODIS/Terra: Global Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity at 0.05-Degree Resolution

17 layers of land surface temperature and emissivity data composited from eight daily satellite observations. The Terra MODIS instrument provides this data on a global 0.05-degree Climate Modeling Grid with 7,200 columns and 3,600 rows. Version 6.1 incorporates calibration improvements for the period 2012-2017.

Use Cases

• Modeling global climate patterns based on 8-day composited land surface temperature layers.
• Analyzing land surface emissivity variations based on data from specific MODIS infrared bands (20, 22, 23, 29, 31, 32).
• Studying diurnal temperature cycles based on separate daytime and nighttime observation layers.
• Assessing data quality for thermal remote sensing applications based on included quality control layers.

Strengths

• Provides global coverage on a consistent 0.05-degree (approximately 5.6 km) grid.
• Includes 17 data layers per product, such as LST, quality control, observation times, and view angles.
• Data is derived from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite, a long-term observational platform.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived by compositing and averaging values from eight daily MOD11C1 files captured by the Terra MODIS instrument.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:42:27.522611; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global