True surface color, near-real-time (Terra MODIS)
What it measures. The true color of the land surface across seven wavelengths, estimated as it would look at ground level with the haze and distortion of the atmosphere removed, delivered quickly in near-real-time.
How it's made. Computed from the MODIS instrument's land bands on the Terra satellite, correcting raw readings for atmospheric scattering and absorption.
How & where you'd use it. A core input for many land products like vegetation indices, snow and ice, and fire detection; often used as a stepping stone to those products.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2015-12-06 → ongoing
- Measured byTERRA (MODIS)
- Processing levelLevel Not provided
- Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
- FormatsHDF EOS
- 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
MODIS/Terra Near Real Time (NRT) L2 Surface Reflectance, 5-Min Swath 250m, 500m, and 1km (MOD09). This product is computed from the MODIS Level 1B land bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 (centered at 648 nm, 858 nm, 470 nm, 555 nm, 1240 nm, 1640 nm, and 2130 nm, respectively). The product is an estimate of the surface spectral reflectance for each band as it would have been measured at ground level if there were no atmospheric scattering or absorption. The surface-reflectance product is the input for product generation for several land products: vegetation Indices (VIs), BRDF, thermal anomaly, snow/ice, and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation/Leaf Area Index (FPAR/LAI).
Get the data
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="MOD09",
version="6NRT",
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 LANCEMODISBrowsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.