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Full catalog/MOD11A2
MOD11A2·v061·dataset

How hot the land surface gets (Terra, 8-day, 1 km)

MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity 8-Day L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. This shows how hot the land surface gets, given as an 8-day average for each square kilometer, together with how efficiently the surface emits heat. It also carries quality flags and viewing details.

How it's made. Derived from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite by averaging the daily clear-sky temperature readings over each 8-day period onto a 1-km grid.

How & where you'd use it. Helpful for tracking longer-term surface heat patterns, drought, climate trends and seasonal land changes with less day-to-day noise than single-day data.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-18 → 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 Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity 8-Day (MOD11A2) Version 6.1 product provides an average 8-day per-pixel Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (LST&E) with a 1 kilometer (km) spatial resolution in a 1,200 by 1,200 km grid. Each pixel value in the MOD11A2 is a simple average of all the corresponding [MOD11A1](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD11A1.061) LST pixels collected within that 8-day period. The 8-day compositing period was chosen because twice that period is the exact ground track repeat period of the Terra and Aqua platforms. Provided along with the daytime and nighttime surface temperature bands are associated quality control assessments, observation times, view zenith angles, and clear-sky coverages along with bands 31 and 32 emissivities from land cover types. 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

mod11a2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD11A2",
    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.