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Full catalog/MOD11_L2
MOD11_L2·v061·dataset

How hot the land surface is, single pass (Terra, 1 km)

MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity 5-Min L2 Swath 1km V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 2 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. The temperature of the land surface and how well it radiates heat, measured for each 1-kilometer pixel in a single satellite pass, along with error estimates, quality flags and viewing details.

How it's made. Calculated from the Terra MODIS instrument as a per-pass swath product, using a split-window method on its thermal infrared bands.

How & where you'd use it. The direct source feeding the tidy daily and 8-day land-temperature grids. Researchers who need original, un-gridded readings use it directly; most others use the gridded products built from it.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIES › LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURELAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › EMISSIVITY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-24 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • 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 MOD11_L2 Version 6.1 swath product provides per-pixel Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (LST&E) with a pixel size of 1,000 meters (m). The product is produced daily in 5-minute temporal increments of satellite acquisition using the generalized split-window algorithm. MOD11_L2 is a Level 2 product which provides the input for the Level 3 products. Provided in each MOD11_L2 file are LST, quality control assessment, error estimates, bands 31 and 32 emissivities, zenith angle of the pixel view, observation time, and the geographic coordinates for every five scan lines and samples. 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

mod11_l2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD11_L2",
    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.