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Full catalog/MOD13A3
MOD13A3·v061·dataset

How green the vegetation is, NDVI (Terra, monthly, 1 km)

MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V061
biosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. How green and healthy vegetation is, given as monthly NDVI and EVI 'greenness' indices for every 1 km patch of land. Higher values mean denser, more vigorous plant cover.

How it's made. Made from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite by taking a weighted average of the cleaner views within each month, after correcting for haze, ozone, and atmospheric scattering.

How & where you'd use it. Used to monitor vegetation, droughts, growing seasons, and land-cover change worldwide, and as input to climate, water, and ecosystem models. It also continues older greenness records for long-term comparison.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEXBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (NDVI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › ENHANCED VEGETATION INDEX (EVI)

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

  • Map vegetation, forests and biomass
  • Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
  • Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description

The Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Vegetation Indices Monthly (MOD13A3) Version 6.1 data are provided monthly at 1 kilometer (km) spatial resolution as a gridded Level 3 product in the sinusoidal projection. In generating this monthly product, the algorithm ingests all the [MOD13A2](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13A2.061) products that overlap the month and employs a weighted temporal average. The MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) complements NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) NDVI products and provides continuity for time series historical applications. MODIS also includes an Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) that minimizes canopy background variations and maintains sensitivity over dense vegetation conditions. The EVI uses the blue band to remove residual atmosphere contamination caused by smoke and sub-pixel thin clouds. The MODIS NDVI and EVI products are computed from surface reflectances corrected for molecular scattering, ozone absorption, and aerosols. Vegetation indices are used for global monitoring of vegetation conditions and are used in products displaying land cover and land cover changes. These data may be used as input for modeling global biogeochemical and hydrologic processes as well as global and regional climate. Additional applications include characterizing land surface biophysical properties and processes, such as primary production and land cover conversion. Provided along with the vegetation layers and the two quality assurance (QA) layers are reflectance bands 1 (red), 2 (near-infrared), 3 (blue), and 7 (mid-infrared), as well as three observation layers. 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

mod13a3_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD13A3",
    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.