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Full catalog/MYD15A2H
MYD15A2H·v061·dataset

How dense and leafy the plants are (Aqua, 8-day, 500 m)

MODIS/Aqua Leaf Area Index/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V061
biosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 4 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Two related measures of plant cover: how much leaf area sits over a patch of ground, and what fraction of usable sunlight the leaves are absorbing. Together they describe how dense and leafy the vegetation is.

How it's made. Generated from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, picking the best clear-sky pixel over each 8-day window and mapping it to a 500-meter grid.

How & where you'd use it. Used to monitor crop and forest growth, model how plants take up carbon and water, and track vegetation health across seasons and years.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › LEAF CHARACTERISTICSBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATIONBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › LEAF CHARACTERISTICS › LEAF AREA INDEX (LAI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION › FRACTION OF ABSORBED PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION (FAPAR)

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-07-04 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS2
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map vegetation, forests and biomass
  • Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
  • Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description

The MYD15A2H Version 6.1 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) combined Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) product is an 8-day composite dataset with 500 meter (m) pixel size. The algorithm chooses the "best" pixel available from all the acquisitions of the Aqua sensor from within the 8-day period. LAI is defined as the one-sided green leaf area per unit ground area in broadleaf canopies and as one-half the total needle surface area per unit ground area in coniferous canopies. FPAR is defined as the fraction of incident photosynthetically active radiation (400-700 nanometers (nm)) absorbed by the green elements of a vegetation canopy. Science Datasets (SDS) in the Level 4 (L4) MYD15A2H product include LAI, FPAR, two quality layers, and standard deviation for LAI and FPAR. Two low resolution browse images, LAI and FPAR, are also available for each MYD15A2H granule. 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

myd15a2h_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MYD15A2H",
    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.