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Description

The MCD15A3H Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MCD15A3H Version 6.1 data product.

The MCD15A3H Version 6 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 4, Combined Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR), and Leaf Area Index (LAI) product is a 4-day composite data set with 500 meter pixel size. The algorithm chooses the best pixel available from all the acquisitions of both MODIS sensors located on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites from within the 4-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 nm) absorbed by the green elements of a vegetation canopy.

Known Issues

Improvements/Changes from Previous Version

  • The Version 6 product uses the daily Level 2 Gridded (L2G)-lite surface reflectance as input as opposed to MODAGAGG, a MODIS daily aggregated surface reflectance product, used in Version 5.
  • Products are generated at native resolution of 500 meters rather than the 1,000 meters of the Version 5.
  • Version 6 uses an improved multi-year land cover product.

Version Description

The MCD15A3H Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MCD15A3H Version 6.1 data product (https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD15A3H.061).

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent
N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2002-07-04 to 2023-02-17
Temporal Resolution
4 Day
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/MODAPS)
Concept ID
C2763289451-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Leaf Characteristics,
Photosynthetically Active Radiation,
LEAF AREA INDEX (LAI),
Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Myneni, R., Knyazikhin, Y., & Park, T. (2015). MCD15A3H MODIS/Terra+Aqua Leaf Area Index/FPAR 4-day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD15A3H.006 Date Accessed: 2025-10-31

File Naming Convention

MCD15A3H.A2002277.h26v08.006.2015151145358.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD15A3H) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2002277), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h26v08), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2015151145358), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
Ecosystem photosynthesis in land‐surface models—A first‐principles approach incorporating acclimation Mengoli, G.
Estimating evapotranspiration using remotely sensed solar-induced fluorescence measurements Zhou, K.
A 250 m resolution global leaf area index product derived from MODIS surface reflectance data Xiao, Z. Q.
Implementation of two-stream emission model for L-Band retrievals on the Tibetan Plateau Wu, X. J.
Surface Urban Energy and Water Balance Scheme (v2020a) in vegetated areas—Parameter derivation and performance evaluation using FLUXNET2015 dataset Omidvar, H.
Effects of the new Priestly-Taylor equation on determining the boundary of LST/FVC space for soil moisture monitoring Sun, H.
Discontinuity of diurnal temperature range along elevated regions Jang, Y. S.
Investigating relationships between runoff–erosion processes and land use and land cover using remote sensing multiple gridded datasets da Fonseca, C. A. B.
Ecosystem productivity and evapotranspiration dynamics of a seasonally dry tropical forest of the Yucatan Peninsula Uuh-Sonda, J. M.
Application of the vineyard data assimilation (VIDA) system to vineyard root-zone soil moisture monitoring in the California Central Valley Chen, F.
SHOWING 10 OF 86

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
FparExtra_QC Extra detail Quality for  FPAR and LAI Class Flag uint8 255 255 to 254 N/A
FparLai_QC Quality for  FPAR and LAI Class Flag uint8 255 255 to 254 N/A
FparStdDev_500m Standard deviation of  FPAR Percent uint8 248 248 to 100 0.01
Fpar_500m Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation Percent uint8 249 249 to 100 0.01
LaiStdDev_500m Standard deviation of LAI m²/m² uint8 248 248 to 100 0.1
Lai_500m Leaf Area Index m²/m² uint8 249 249 to 100 0.1
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