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Full catalog/MCD12C1
MCD12C1·v061·dataset

What covers the land: forest, city, water (Terra+Aqua, yearly)

MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. A yearly global map of what covers the land, sorting each area into categories like forest, cropland, city, grassland, or water. It also estimates what fraction of each grid cell falls into each category.

How it's made. Made by taking the detailed MODIS land-cover maps (from the Terra and Aqua satellites) and aggregating them onto a coarser, evenly spaced global grid of about 5.6 km.

How & where you'd use it. Widely used in climate models, ecosystem studies, and land-change tracking where a simple, consistent global picture of land types is more practical than fine-grained tiles.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2001-01-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MODIS) · Aqua (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS2
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The Terra and Aqua combined Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Cover Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) (MCD12C1) Version 6.1 data product provides a spatially aggregated and reprojected version of the tiled [MCD12Q1 Version 6.1](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD12Q1.061) data product. Maps of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), University of Maryland (UMD), and Leaf Area Index (LAI) classification schemes are provided at yearly intervals at 0.05 degree (5,600 meter) spatial resolution for the entire globe. Additionally, sub-pixel proportions of each land cover class in each 0.05 degree pixel is provided along with the aggregated quality assessment information for each of the three land classification schemes. Provided in each MCD12C1 Version 6.1 Hierarchical Data Format 4 (HDF4) file are layers for Majority Land Cover Type 1-3, Majority Land Cover Type 1-3 Assessment, and Majority Land Cover Type 1-3 Percent. Known Issues * Known issues are described in Section 2.2 of the User Guide. * For complete information about known issues please refer to the [MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue?sensor=MODIS&as=61).

Get the data

mcd12c1_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MCD12C1",
    version="061",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LPCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.