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modis-aqua-myd17a2hgf·dataset

Plant carbon capture, gap-filled for clean records (Aqua)

MODIS Aqua Gross Primary Productivity Gap-Filled 8-Day L4 Global 500m
biosphere ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. This is the same 8-day measure of how much carbon green plants absorb through photosynthesis at 500-meter detail, but with cloudy or low-quality readings patched up. It also includes net photosynthesis, which is plant growth minus the energy plants burn to survive.

How it's made. Produced by ESA Copernicus from NASA's MODIS sensor on the Aqua satellite; poor inputs are repaired by interpolation once the full year of leaf-cover data is ready, so it is a polished, after-the-fact Level-4 product rather than a live feed.

How & where you'd use it. Good for researchers who need smooth, consistent year-long records of plant productivity for climate and carbon studies, rather than up-to-the-minute updates.

What's measured

MODISAquaNASASatelliteGlobalVegetationGPPGross Primary ProductivityCarbon500mMYD17A2HGF

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-01-01 → 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 MYD17A2HGF Version 6.1 product provides a gap-filled 8-day cumulative composite of Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) at 500 m spatial resolution. The dataset is based on the radiation use efficiency concept and can be used as input for models analyzing terrestrial energy balance, carbon and water cycles, and vegetation biogeochemistry. In addition to GPP, the product includes Net Photosynthesis (PSN), calculated as GPP minus Maintenance Respiration (MR), along with a quality control (QC) layer providing quality information for both variables. The gap-filled product is generated at the end of each year once the complete annual MYD15A2H LAI/FPAR dataset becomes available. Poor-quality LAI/FPAR inputs are identified using quality control flags and replaced through linear interpolation, improving the consistency of the final dataset. Consequently, the MYD17A2HGF product is not available in near-real time and is produced only after the completion of the full yearly dataset.

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-myd17a2hgf"],   # 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.