MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices: 16-Day Global Composites at 0.05-Degree Resolution

The MOD13C1 dataset provides global 16-day composite vegetation indices from NASA's Terra MODIS satellite. It includes the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) projected on a 0.05-degree Climate Modeling Grid. The data also contains quality assurance, reflectance, angular information, and spatial statistics layers.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global vegetation health and phenology based on the NDVI and EVI layers.
• Modeling climate-biosphere interactions using the 0.05-degree Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) data.
• Analyzing spatial variability in vegetation using the provided mean and standard deviation statistics.
• Assessing data quality for high biomass regions using the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) with improved sensitivity.

Strengths

• Provides two primary vegetation indices (NDVI and EVI) with continuity to NOAA-AVHRR data.
• Data is projected on a global Climate Modeling Grid with 3,600 rows and 7,200 columns.
• Version 6.1 incorporates specific calibration improvements for the period 2012-2017.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Known issues exist and require consultation of the external MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Cloud-free spatial composites of gridded 16-day 1-kilometer MOD13A2 data, processed to a Level 3 product.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 00:08:47.271806; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global