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Full catalog/MOD16A3GF
MOD16A3GF·v061·dataset

How much water plants release, gap-filled (Terra, yearly, 500 m)

MODIS/Terra Net Evapotranspiration Gap-Filled Yearly L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V061
atmosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 4 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Estimates how much water plants and soil release into the air over a full year through evaporation and transpiration, plus the related heat energy, mapped worldwide at 500-meter detail. The 'gap-filled' version replaces poor-quality data points to give a cleaner yearly picture.

How it's made. Produced from MODIS data on the Terra satellite combined with daily weather data using the Penman-Monteith equation, then gap-filled at year's end (a Level 4 yearly composite).

How & where you'd use it. Used to study the water cycle, crop and forest water use, and drought, and to support water-resource planning. Because it is finalized at year's end, it is not available in near real-time.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPOTRANSPIRATIONBIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS › PHOTOSYNTHESISBIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS › PRIMARY PRODUCTIONATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › PRECIPITATION PROFILES › LATENT HEAT FLUX

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-18 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS2
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MOD16A3GF Version 6.1 Evapotranspiration/Latent Heat Flux (ET/LE) product is a year-end gap-filled yearly composite dataset produced at 500 meter (m) pixel resolution. The algorithm used for the MOD16 data product collection is based on the logic of the Penman-Monteith equation, which includes inputs of daily meteorological reanalysis data along with MODIS remotely sensed data products such as vegetation property dynamics, albedo, and land cover. The MODIS MOD16A3GF will be generated at the end of each year when the entire yearly 8-day [MOD15A2H](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD15A2H.061) is available. Hence, the gap-filled MOD16A3GF is the improved MOD16, which has cleaned the poor-quality inputs from yearly Leaf Area Index and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (LAI/FPAR) based on the Quality Control (QC) label for every pixel. If any LAI/FPAR pixel did not meet the quality screening criteria, its value is determined through linear interpolation. However, users cannot get MOD16A3GF in near-real time because it will be generated only at the end of a given year. Provided in the MOD16A3GF product are layers for composited ET, LE, Potential ET (PET), and Potential LE (PLE) along with a quality control layer. Two low resolution browse images, ET and LE, are also available for each MOD16A3GF granule. The pixel values for the two Evapotranspiration layers (ET and PET) are the sum for all days within the defined year, and the pixel values for the two Latent Heat layers (LE and PLE) are the average of all days within the defined year. Known Issues * Operational and uncertainty issues are provided under Section 3 in the User Guide. * 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

mod16a3gf_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD16A3GF",
    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.