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Full catalog/MOD44B
MOD44B·v061·dataset

Share of tree, grass and bare ground (Terra, yearly, 250 m)

MODIS/Terra Vegetation Continuous Fields Yearly L3 Global 250m SIN Grid V061
biosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. For each spot of land, the percentage covered by trees, by other (non-tree) vegetation, and by bare ground. Instead of one label per pixel, it gives the mix of those three within each pixel.

How it's made. Generated yearly from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite at 250-meter resolution, with quality and cloud-cover layers included.

How & where you'd use it. Used to map and track changes in tree cover and bare ground over time, supporting deforestation monitoring and environmental and climate models.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › CANOPY CHARACTERISTICSBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › EVERGREEN VEGETATIONBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › CROWNBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › DECIDUOUS VEGETATIONBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › LEAF CHARACTERISTICSBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION COVERLAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-03-05 → 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 MOD44B Version 6.1 Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) yearly product is a global representation of surface vegetation cover as gradations of three ground cover components: percent tree cover, percent non-tree cover, and percent non-vegetated (bare). VCF products provide a continuous, quantitative portrayal of land surface cover at 250 meter (m) pixel resolution, with a sub-pixel depiction of percent cover in reference to the three ground cover components. The sub-pixel mixture of ground cover estimates represents a revolutionary approach to the characterization of vegetative land cover that can be used to enhance inputs to environmental modeling and monitoring applications. The MOD44B data product layers include percent tree cover, percent non-tree cover, percent non-vegetated, cloud cover, and quality indicators. The start date of the annual period for this product begins with day of year (DOY) 65 (March 6 except for leap year which corresponds to March 5). 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

mod44b_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD44B",
    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.