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Full catalog/MYD11A2
MYD11A2·v061·dataset

How hot the land surface gets (Aqua, 8-day, 1 km)

MODIS/Aqua Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity 8-Day L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. The land-surface temperature averaged over each 8-day period for every 1-kilometer square, along with how well the surface radiates heat, with separate day and night values.

How it's made. Built from the Aqua MODIS instrument by averaging its clear-sky daily temperature readings over 8 days onto a global grid.

How & where you'd use it. Good for smoothing out day-to-day cloud gaps to study seasonal and longer-term land-temperature patterns, drought, and climate trends with a cleaner, more complete picture than single days.

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 3
  • 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 8-Day (MYD11A2) Version 6.1 product provides an average 8-day per-pixel Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (LST&E) with a 1 kilometer (km) spatial resolution in a 1,200 by 1,200 km grid. Each pixel value in the MYD11A2 is a simple average of all the corresponding [MYD11A1](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD11A1.061) LST pixels collected within that 8-day period. The 8-day compositing period was chosen because twice that period is the exact ground track repeat period of the Terra and Aqua platforms. Provided along with the daytime and nighttime surface temperature bands are associated quality control assessments, observation times, view zenith angles, and clear-sky coverages along with bands 31 and 32 emissivities from land cover types. 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

myd11a2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MYD11A2",
    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.