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Full catalog/MOD09CMG
MOD09CMG·v061·dataset

True surface color (Terra, daily, 0.05 deg)

MODIS/Terra Surface Reflectance Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Shows the true color of the land surface, that is, how much sunlight it reflects across seven MODIS bands once haze and atmospheric effects are removed, mapped in roughly 5.6 km cells. It also includes some thermal-band brightness data.

How it's made. Derived from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite, corrected for gases, aerosols, and scattering, and resampled onto a climate-modeling grid.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for climate models, land-cover and vegetation studies, and tracking changes in the land surface over time.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-24 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (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 MOD09CMG Version 6.1 product provides an estimate of the surface spectral reflectance of Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Bands 1 through 7, resampled to 5600 meter (m) pixel resolution and corrected for atmospheric conditions such as gasses, aerosols, and Rayleigh scattering. The MOD09CMG data product provides 25 layers including MODIS bands 1 through 7; Brightness Temperature data from thermal bands 20, 21, 31, and 32; along with Quality Assurance (QA) and observation bands. This product is based on a Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) for use in climate simulation models. 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=Terra&as=61).

Get the data

mod09cmg_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD09CMG",
    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.