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Full catalog/modis-aqua-myd13a2
modis-aqua-myd13a2·dataset

Global vegetation greenness every 16 days, 1km (Copernicus)

MODIS Aqua Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 1km
biosphere ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. Measures plant greenness and vigour with two indices (NDVI and EVI) over 16-day periods at a broad 1-kilometre detail.

How it's made. Generated from MODIS data on NASA's Aqua satellite by selecting the clearest, greenest observation in each 16-day window.

How & where you'd use it. A coarse-scale tool for watching large-area vegetation trends, droughts, and growing seasons, and for long-term climate and ecosystem studies.

What's measured

MODISAquaNASASatelliteGlobalVegetationNDVIEVIVegetation Index1kmMYD13A2

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 MYD13A2 Version 6.1 product provides Vegetation Index (VI) values at 1 km spatial resolution on a per-pixel basis. The dataset includes two primary vegetation indices: the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which maintains continuity with NDVI derived from NOAA-AVHRR observations, and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), which improves sensitivity in areas with high vegetation 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. In addition to the vegetation index layers and two quality assurance layers, the product includes 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-myd13a2"],   # 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.