How hot the land surface gets (Terra, monthly, 6 km)

In plain English

What it measures. Monthly averages of how warm the land surface looks from space, plus emissivity (how efficiently a surface gives off heat), for both day and night across roughly 6-km grid squares.

How it's made. Calculated by averaging the daily Terra MODIS land-temperature readings over each month into a gridded global product.

How & where you'd use it. Helps track seasonal and long-term patterns in land heat, useful for climate studies, drought monitoring, and understanding urban and regional temperature trends.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

Time span2000-02-01 → 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 Monthly (MOD11B3) Version 6.1 product provides average monthly per pixel Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (LST&E) in a 1,200 by 1,200 kilometer (km) tile with a pixel size of 5,600 meters (m). Each LST&E pixel value in the MOD11B3 is a simple average of all the corresponding values from the [MOD11B1](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD11B1.061) collected during the month period. Each MOD11B3 granule consists of 19 layers including daytime and nighttime layers for LSTs, quality control assessments, observation times, view zenith angles, and number of clear sky observations along with percentage of land in the tile and emissivities from bands 20, 22, 23, 29, 31, and 32. Unique to the MOD11B products are additional day and night LST layers generated from band 31 of the corresponding 1 km [MOD11_L2](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD11_L2.061) swath product aggregated to the 6 km grid. 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

mod11b3_access.py

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD11B3",
    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.

Official links

Earthdata Search allows users to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data. GET DATA
The technical information in the User's Guide enables users to interpret and use the data products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
The ATBD provides physical theory and mathematical procedures for the calculations used to produce the data products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
The File Specification provides a description of the product file including Scientific Data Sets and their attributes. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Validation at stage 2 has been achieved for all MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Further details regarding MODIS land product validation for the MOD11 data products are available from the MODIS Land Team Validation site. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
The LDOPE Land Product Quality Assessment website provides known issues, maneuvers, and product quality of the land products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION