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Full catalog/MYD09
MYD09·v6.1·dataset

True surface colors, cloud-cleared (MODIS, Aqua, 250 m-1 km)

MODIS/Aqua Atmospherically Corrected Surface Reflectance 5-Min L2 Swath 250m, 500m, and 1km
land NASA LAADS Level 2 active HDF-EOS
In plain English

What it measures. An estimate of the true colors of the land surface as they would look at ground level with the atmosphere's haze removed, across seven MODIS bands from visible through shortwave-infrared, at 250 m to 1 km detail.

How it's made. Computed from MODIS Level-1B observations aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, with corrections applied to strip out atmospheric scattering and absorption.

How & where you'd use it. A foundational input for many land products, vegetation indices, snow and ice, thermal anomalies, and leaf-area measures, so it's often used indirectly through those.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-07-04 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS
  • 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 MODIS/Aqua Atmospherically Corrected Surface Reflectance 5-Min L2 Swath 250m, 500m, 1km (MYD09) product is computed from the MODIS Level 1B land bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 (centered at 648 nm, 858 nm, 470 nm, 555 nm, 1240 nm, 1640 nm, and 2130 nm, respectively). The product is an estimate of the surface spectral reflectance for each band as it would have been measured at ground level if there were no atmospheric scattering or absorption. The surface-reflectance product is the input for product generation for several land products: vegetation Indices (VIs), Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF), thermal anomaly, snow/ice, and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation/Leaf Area Index (FPAR/LAI).

Get the data

myd09_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MYD09",
    version="6.1",
    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.