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Full catalog/modis-aqua-myd13a1
modis-aqua-myd13a1·dataset

Global vegetation greenness every 16 days, 500m (Copernicus)

MODIS Aqua Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 500m
biosphere ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. Tracks how green and healthy plants are using two greenness indices (NDVI and EVI), summarised over 16-day periods at 500-metre detail.

How it's made. Computed from MODIS observations on NASA's Aqua satellite, choosing the clearest, greenest pixel within each 16-day window.

How & where you'd use it. Widely used to monitor crops, droughts, growing seasons, and overall ecosystem health, and to spot vegetation change over the years.

What's measured

MODISAquaNASASatelliteGlobalVegetationNDVIEVIVegetation Index500mMYD13A1

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-07-04 → ongoing
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90

What you can do with it

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

The MODIS Aqua MYD13A1 Version 6.1 product provides Vegetation Index (VI) values at 500 m spatial resolution on a per-pixel basis. The dataset includes two primary vegetation indices: the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which serves as a continuity index with the NDVI derived from NOAA-AVHRR observations, and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), designed to improve sensitivity in regions with high biomass. The product is generated as a 16-day composite, where the algorithm selects the best available pixel from all acquisitions within the compositing period based on criteria such as low cloud contamination, low view angle, and the highest NDVI/EVI value. Along with the vegetation index layers, the product includes two quality assurance layers, reflectance bands 1 (red), 2 (near-infrared), 3 (blue), and 7 (mid-infrared), as well as four observation layers.

Get the data

copernicus_access.py
# ESA Copernicus Data Space — open STAC API (free account)
from pystac_client import Client

cat = Client.open("https://stac.dataspace.copernicus.eu/v1")
search = cat.search(
    collections=["modis-aqua-myd13a1"],   # add _cog or _nc for a format variant
    bbox=(-10, 35, 30, 60),             # your area (W,S,E,N)
    datetime="2024-01-01/2024-12-31",
)
items = list(search.items())            # then read assets with rioxarray / xarray
Browsing the Copernicus STAC is open; downloading bytes needs a free Copernicus Data Space account.