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Full catalog/MOD17A3HGF
MOD17A3HGF·v061·dataset

How much plants grew over a year (Terra, 500 m)

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

What it measures. How much plants grew over a whole year, at 500 m resolution, reported as yearly gross and net primary production (the carbon plants captured, minus what they used to stay alive).

How it's made. Built from the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite by summing its 8-day productivity products across the year, then cleaning up poor-quality inputs by filling gaps; it is only finalized after each year ends.

How & where you'd use it. Used to study yearly ecosystem productivity, the carbon cycle, and long-term changes in how much vegetation grows. It is not available in real time.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS › PHOTOSYNTHESISBIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS › PRIMARY PRODUCTIONBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION PRODUCTIVITY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2001-01-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • 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 MOD17A3HGF Version 6.1 product provides information about annual Gross and Net Primary Production (GPP and NPP) at 500 meter (m) pixel resolution. Annual Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) GPP and NPP is derived from the sum of all 8-day GPP Net Photosynthesis (PSN) products ([MOD17A2H](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD17A2H.061)) from the given year. The PSN value is the difference of the GPP and the Maintenance Respiration (MR). The MOD17A3HGF 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 MOD17A3HGF is the improved MOD17, which has cleaned the poor-quality inputs from 8-day 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 MOD17A3HGF in near-real time because it will be generated only at the end of a given year. Known Issues * Operational and uncertainty issues are provided under Section 2 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

mod17a3hgf_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD17A3HGF",
    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.