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Full catalog/modis-aqua-myd15a2h
modis-aqua-myd15a2h·dataset

Global leaf cover and light absorption, 8-day 500m (Copernicus)

MODIS Aqua Leaf Area Index FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m
biosphere ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. Estimates how much leaf area canopies hold and what fraction of useful sunlight plants absorb for growth, summarised every eight days at 500-metre detail.

How it's made. Calculated from MODIS observations on NASA's Aqua satellite by selecting the best pixel in each 8-day window, a modelled (Level 4) product.

How & where you'd use it. Feeds crop, forest, and ecosystem models and helps study plant productivity, carbon uptake, and how vegetation responds to weather and climate.

What's measured

MODISAquaNASASatelliteGlobalVegetationLAIFPARLeaf Area Index500mMYD15A2H

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 MYD15A2H Version 6.1 product provides an 8-day composite of Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) at 500 m spatial resolution. The dataset is generated by selecting the best available pixel from all Aqua MODIS acquisitions within the 8-day compositing period. LAI represents the one-sided green leaf area per unit ground area in broadleaf canopies and half the total needle surface area per unit ground area in coniferous canopies. FPAR describes the fraction of incoming photosynthetically active radiation (400-700 nm) absorbed by the green vegetation canopy. The Level-4 product includes science datasets for LAI and FPAR, two quality control layers, and standard deviation layers for both variables. Additionally, low-resolution browse images for LAI and FPAR are provided for each granule.

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-myd15a2h"],   # 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.