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Full catalog/modis-aqua-myd16a3gf
modis-aqua-myd16a3gf·dataset

Yearly global map of land water loss at 500m (Copernicus)

MODIS Aqua Net Evapotranspiration Gap-Filled Yearly L4 Global 500m
land ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. Estimates how much water leaves the land each year through evaporation and plant transpiration, along with the related energy flux, at 500-metre detail.

How it's made. Produced annually from a model combining weather data with MODIS measurements of vegetation, brightness, and land cover on NASA's Aqua satellite, with gaps filled in (a Level 4 product).

How & where you'd use it. Important for managing water resources, assessing droughts and irrigation needs, and studying the water and energy balance of landscapes.

What's measured

MODISAquaNASASatelliteGlobalEvapotranspirationETLatent Heat500mMYD16A3GF

Coverage & cadence

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

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The MODIS Aqua MYD16A3GF Version 6.1 product provides a yearly gap-filled composite of Evapotranspiration (ET) and Latent Heat Flux (LE) at 500 m spatial resolution. The dataset is generated at the end of each year using an algorithm based on the Penman-Monteith equation, which integrates daily meteorological reanalysis data with MODIS-derived variables such as vegetation dynamics, albedo, and land cover. The product uses quality-controlled inputs from the 8-day LAI/FPAR dataset (MYD15A2H), and pixels that do not meet quality criteria are filled through linear interpolation. The dataset includes layers for ET, LE, Potential Evapotranspiration (PET), and Potential Latent Heat Flux (PLE), along with a quality control layer. Annual ET and PET values represent the sum of daily values over the year, while LE and PLE represent the annual average. Low-resolution browse images for ET and LE are also 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-myd16a3gf"],   # 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.