Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/MYD03
MYD03·v7·dataset

Pixel location helper file (Aqua, 1 km)

MODIS/Aqua Geolocation Fields 5-Min L1A Swath 1km V7
land NASA LAADS Level 1A active NetCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. For each Aqua MODIS pixel, the precise location on the ground, the ground elevation, and the sun and satellite viewing angles. It tells you exactly where each pixel is pointing, not what it observed.

How it's made. Computed for the Aqua MODIS instrument using spacecraft position and orientation, instrument data, and a digital elevation model, at 1 km resolution in 5-minute swath chunks.

How & where you'd use it. A companion helper file used to geolocate MODIS imagery and feed higher-level products; researchers rely on it behind the scenes rather than reading it on its own.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › PLATFORM CHARACTERISTICS › ATTITUDE CHARACTERISTICSSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › PLATFORM CHARACTERISTICS › ORBITAL CHARACTERISTICSSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › PLATFORM CHARACTERISTICS › VIEWING GEOMETRY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-07-03 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 1A
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsNetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

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 Aqua MODIS (Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Level-1A (L1A) Geolocation product contains geodetic coordinates, ground elevation, and solar and satellite zenith and azimuth angles for the center of each MODIS 1-km pixel at nadir. These data serve as a companion dataset to the Level-1B calibrated radiances (MYD02) and the higher-level products to enable further processing. These geolocation fields are determined using data inputs from the spacecraft attitude and orbit, instrument telemetry, and a digital elevation model. The Aqua MODIS 1-km Geolocation product whose short-name is MYD03. The MYD03 Science Data Sets (SDS) describe the range of information provided for each 1-km pixel’s Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV). In addition, a range of other information attributes (quality, offsets, observation start-time, etc.) exist as well. The v7.0 Aqua MODIS MYD03 in netCDF4 format represents the most current version of this product that has undergone around half-a-dozen reprocessing cycles in the last 2.5 decades. Each 1-km swath granule or data-file temporally spans 5 minutes and its nominal image dimensions measure 2,030 lines (along-track direction) by 1,354 samples (cross-track direction). The v7.0 collection’s data record starts from July 4, 2002 (2002–185).

Get the data

myd03_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MYD03",
    version="7",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LAADS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.