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Full catalog/MCD19A1CMGL
MCD19A1CMGL·v061·dataset

True surface color, glare-corrected (Terra+Aqua, daily)

MODIS/Terra+Aqua Surface Reflectance (Bands 1-7) from MAIAC, Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Estimates the true color of the land surface across seven wavelength bands as it would look without the atmosphere's haze and glare in the way.

How it's made. Produced daily by combining Terra and Aqua MODIS data with the MAIAC atmospheric-correction method, on a roughly 5,600 m global grid.

How & where you'd use it. Underpins vegetation, land-cover, and climate studies that need clean, glare-corrected surface color over time.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCE

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 MCD19A1CMGL Version 6.1 data product is a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua combined Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Surface Reflectance Level 3 (Bands 1-7) product produced daily in a 0.05 degree (5,600 meters at the equator) Climate Modeling Grid (CMG). The MCD19A1CMGL product is corrected for atmospheric gases and aerosols using a new MAIAC algorithm that is based on a time series analysis and a combination of pixel- and image-based processing. The MODIS MAIAC products provide an estimate of the surface spectral reflectance, also referred to as Bidirectional Reflectance Factor (BRF), as it would be measured at ground-level in the absence of atmospheric scattering or absorption. The Surface Reflectance dataset includes BRF, BRF normalized to a fixed geometry of solar zenith angle at 45° and nadir view, and Nadir Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) normalized to the nadir view and local sun angle at 1:30 pm. The MCD19A1CMGL MAIAC Surface Reflectance product for land bands includes 25 Science Dataset (SDS) layers: BRF for bands 1-7, BRF normalized to a fixed geometry for bands 1-7, NBAR for bands 1-7, Quality Assessment (QA) bits, cosine of solar zenith angle, cosine of view zenith angle, and relative azimuth angle. A low-resolution browse is also included. Known Issues * Known issues are described in Section 6 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&sat=TerraAqua&as=61).

Get the data

mcd19a1cmgl_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MCD19A1CMGL",
    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.