Bangladesh Leaf Density, 2003 vs 2021
What it measures. Shows how much leaf cover blankets the ground across Bangladesh, comparing the years 2003 and 2021 to reveal where vegetation grew or thinned. The measure (Leaf Area Index) reflects the amount of green leaf per patch of land.
How it's made. Built from NASA's MODIS satellite instrument, taking the typical leaf-density reading for each year at 500-metre detail.
How & where you'd use it. Helps researchers see how land use, farming, and development have reshaped vegetation cover over nearly two decades.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2003-01-01 → 2020-12-31
- Spatial extent88.026, 20.742, 92.684, 26.635
- FormatsCOG
What you can do with it
- Map vegetation, forests and biomass
- Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
- Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description
The annual median Leaf Area Index (LAI) maps of 2003 and 2021 were captured using combined Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 4 dataset (MCD15A3H Version 6.1, dataset link: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataprod/mod15.php). The actual dataset represents one-sided green leaf area per unit ground area at 500 meters spatial resolution and provides information at every 4 days. Annual median of the LAI datasets were calculated for both the years of 2003 and 2021 to illustrate the difference in vegetation cover.
Get the data
# NASA VEDA — open STAC API, anonymous (cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs)
from pystac_client import Client
cat = Client.open("https://openveda.cloud/api/stac")
col = cat.get_collection("modis-annual-lai-2003-2020")
items = list(col.get_items()) # browse the analysis-ready COGs
# open an asset with rioxarray:
# import rioxarray; da = rioxarray.open_rasterio(items[0].assets["cog_default"].href)NASA VEDA is an open STAC catalog — browse and stream the cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs anonymously (no login).
Official links
- Open data source VEDA