How hot the land surface gets (Aqua, 8-day, 6 km) — MYD11B2

In plain English

What it measures. How hot the land surface gets over each 8-day stretch, averaged into roughly 6 km grid cells, with separate daytime and nighttime values plus how efficiently the surface radiates heat.

How it's made. Made by averaging the daily 1 km land-temperature readings from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite over each 8-day period into a coarser grid.

How & where you'd use it. Good for studying broader patterns of surface heat, drought, and seasonal change where a smoothed, less cloud-gappy view is more useful than single-day snapshots.

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 (MYD11B2) Version 6.1 product provides an average 8-day per pixel Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (LST&E) in a 1,200 by 1,200 kilometer (km) tile with a pixel size of 5,600 meters (m). Each temperature and emissivity pixel value in the MYD11B2 is a simple average of all the corresponding values from the LST&E values from the [MYD11B1](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD11B1.061) product collected during that 8-day period. Each MYD11B2 granule consists of 19 layers including daytime and nighttime layers for LSTs, quality control assessments, observation times, view zenith angles, and number of clear sky observations along with percentage of land in the tile and emissivities from bands 20, 22, 23, 29, 31, and 32. Unique to the MOD11B products are additional day and night LST layers generated from band 31 of the corresponding 1 km [MYD11_L2](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD11_L2.061) swath product aggregated to the 6 km grid. 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

myd11b2_access.py

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MYD11B2",
    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