How hot the land surface is, single pass (Aqua, 1 km)

In plain English

What it measures. How hot the actual land surface is (not the air above it) for every 1 km patch, along with how efficiently that surface radiates heat. These are single-snapshot readings taken as the satellite passes over.

How it's made. Produced from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite, processed in 5-minute slices straight from each overpass using a split-window temperature method.

How & where you'd use it. This is an early-stage product that mainly feeds NASA's higher-level daily and 8-day temperature maps, though it can be used directly to study surface heat at the moment of each pass.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIES › LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURELAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › EMISSIVITY

Coverage & cadence

Time span2002-07-04 → ongoing
Measured byAqua (MODIS)
Processing levelLevel 2
Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
FormatsHDF-EOS2
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 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity 5-Minute (MYD11_L2) Version 6.1 swath product provides per-pixel Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (LST&E) with a pixel size of 1,000 meters (m). The product is produced daily in 5-minute temporal increments of satellite acquisition using the generalized split-window algorithm. MYD11_L2 is a Level 2 product which provides the input for the Level 3 products. Provided in each MYD11_L2 file are LST, quality control assessment, error estimates, bands 31 and 32 emissivities, zenith angle of the pixel view, observation time, and the geographic coordinates for every five scan lines and samples. Known Issues * For complete information about known issues please refer to the [MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue?sensor=MODIS&sat=Aqua&as=61).

Get the data

myd11_l2_access.py

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MYD11_L2",
    version="061",
    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 LPCLOUD

Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.

Official links

Earthdata Search allows users to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data. GET DATA
The technical information in the User's Guide enables users to interpret and use the data products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
The ATBD provides physical theory and mathematical procedures for the calculations used to produce the data products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
The File Specification provides a description of the product file including Scientific Data Sets and their attributes. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Validation at stage 2 has been achieved for all MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Further details regarding MODIS land product validation for the MYD11 data products are available from the MODIS Land Team Validation site. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
The LDOPE Land Product Quality Assessment website provides known issues, maneuvers, and product quality of the land products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION