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Full catalog/MCD18C1
MCD18C1·v062·dataset

Sunlight energy reaching the ground (Terra+Aqua, daily)

MODIS/Terra+Aqua Downward Shortwave Radiation Daily/3-Hour L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V062
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Estimates how much solar energy reaches the ground over land, both for individual satellite passes and every three hours through the day, across the visible-to-infrared range of sunlight.

How it's made. Computed daily from MODIS instruments on the Terra and Aqua satellites (with help from geostationary satellites), gridded globally at about 5.6 km resolution.

How & where you'd use it. Feeds land-surface and climate models and supports studies of energy, agriculture, and solar resource availability.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › SHORTWAVE RADIATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-24 → 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 MCD18C1 Version 6.2 is a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua combined Downward Shortwave Radiation (DSR) Level 3 product produced daily in a 0.05 degree (5,600 meters at the equator) Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) with estimates of DSR every 3 hours. DSR is incident solar radiation over land surfaces in the shortwave spectrum (300-4,000 nanometers) and is an important variable in land-surface models that address a variety of scientific and application issues. The MCD18 products are based on a prototyping algorithm that uses multi-temporal signatures of MODIS data to derive surface reflectance and then calculate incident DSR using the look-up table (LUT) approach. The LUTs consider different types of loadings of aerosols and clouds at a variety of illumination/viewing geometry. Global DSR products are generated from MODIS and geostationary satellite data. Additional details regarding the methodology used to create the data are available in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD). Provided in the MOD18C1 product are layers for instantaneous DSR array for each individual MODIS overpass and 3-hour DSR array along with a View Zenith Angle layer. Known Issues * 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&sat=TerraAqua&as=62).

Get the data

mcd18c1_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MCD18C1",
    version="062",
    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.