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Full catalog/MCD19A3CMG
MCD19A3CMG·v061·dataset

How green the land is, daily (MODIS Terra+Aqua, 0.05 deg)

MODIS/Terra+Aqua Vegetation Index from MAIAC, Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Daily global maps of how green and lush the land vegetation is, using two standard greenness indices that gauge plant health and density, corrected to show conditions at ground level.

How it's made. Produced by combining MODIS measurements from both NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites with an advanced method that cleans out the blurring effects of the atmosphere.

How & where you'd use it. Used to monitor crops, forests, droughts, and seasonal plant cycles across the globe. Note: known artifacts appear over permanently snow-covered polar areas.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCEBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (NDVI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › ENHANCED VEGETATION INDEX (EVI)

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 MCD19A3CMG Version 6.1 data product is a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua combined Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Vegetation Index Level 3 product produced daily in a 0.05 degree (5,600 meters at the equator) Climate Modeling Grid (CMG). The MCD19A3CMG product provides Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) at ground level in the absence of atmospheric scattering or absorption. The MCD19A3CMG Vegetation Index data product contains the following Science Dataset (SDS) layers: NDVI, NDVI normalized to a fixed geometry of solar zenith angle at 45° and nadir view, gap-filled NDVI, EVI, and EVI normalized to a fixed geometry of solar zenith angle at 45° and nadir view. A low-resolution browse image is also included showing NDVI created using a composite of all available orbits. Known Issues * Known issues are described in Section 6 of the User Guide. * An artifact was discovered in the EVI, NDVI, and NDVI_gapfill layers over the entire swath of southern polar region. The affected region shows false retrieval of data during the summer months. The artifacts occurred over permanently snow-covered areas where no meaningful NDVI retrieval is expected. A software fix was implemented for forward processing in June 2023. Existing data products will not be reprocessed. Affected dates are listed on the [Land Data Operational Products Evaluation Quality Assessment note](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/displayissue?id=187). * 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

mcd19a3cmg_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MCD19A3CMG",
    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.