Global Monthly Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity from MODIS Terra

Monthly land surface temperature and emissivity values composited from daily observations. The data is provided on a global 0.05-degree Climate Modeling Grid with 7,200 columns and 3,600 rows. This MOD11C3 Version 6.1 product is produced by LPCLOUD from NASA's Terra MODIS instrument.

Use Cases

• Modeling urban heat island effects by analyzing daytime and nighttime LST layers across global cities.
• Assessing surface emissivity changes in bands 20, 22, 23, 29, 31, and 32 for vegetation and drought monitoring.
• Analyzing long-term climate trends using the monthly composited LST time-series for the entire globe.
• Filtering data quality for downstream analysis using the provided quality control assessment and clear-sky observation count layers.
• Correlating surface temperature with observation times and view zenith angles to correct for diurnal and angular effects.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage on a consistent 0.05-degree grid (5,600m at equator).
• Includes both daytime and nighttime observations for diurnal cycle analysis.
• Provides multiple data layers including LST, quality control, observation times, view angles, and emissivity.

Limitations

• Known data issues exist, requiring users to consult the MODIS Land Quality Assessment website.
• Spatial resolution of ~5.6km may be too coarse for local-scale or microclimate studies.
• Data quality is dependent on clear-sky observations, which can be limited in persistently cloudy regions.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata / LPCLOUD, derived from MODIS Terra instrument.

Collection Method

Values are derived by compositing and averaging the corresponding month of MOD11C1 daily files.

Time Range

Monthly temporal coverage.

Freshness

Monthly update frequency.

Geography

Global spatial coverage.