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Description

The MOD13A1 Version 6.1 product provides Vegetation Index (VI) values at a per pixel basis at 500 meter (m) spatial resolution. There are two primary vegetation layers. The first is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is referred to as the continuity index to the existing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA-AVHRR) derived NDVI. The second vegetation layer is the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), which has improved sensitivity over high biomass regions. The algorithm for this product chooses the best available pixel value from all the acquisitions from the 16 day period. The criteria used is low clouds, low view angle, and the highest NDVI/EVI value.

Provided along with the vegetation layers and two quality assurance (QA) layers are reflectance bands 1 (red), 2 (near-infrared), 3 (blue), and 7 (mid-infrared), as well as four observation layers.

Known Issues

Improvements/Changes from Previous Versions

  • The Version 6.1 Level-1B (L1B) products have been improved by undergoing various calibration changes that include: changes to the response-versus-scan angle (RVS) approach that affects reflectance bands for Aqua and Terra MODIS, corrections to adjust for the optical crosstalk in Terra MODIS infrared (IR) bands, and corrections to the Terra MODIS forward look-up table (LUT) update for the period 2012 - 2017.
  • A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB).

Version Description

Collection Version 6.1 Processing and Reprocessing

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
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
2000-02-18 to Present
Temporal Resolution
16 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
C2565788901-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Vegetation Index,
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

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

Didan, K. (2021). MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13A1.061 Date Accessed: 2025-10-21

File Naming Convention

MOD13A1.A2025193.h29v07.061.2025209132759.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD13A1) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025193), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h29v07), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025209132759), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
Developing machine learning models with multi-source environmental data to predict wheat yield in China Li, L.
A new scientific framework of dryland ecological quality assessment based on 1OAO principle Cong, W.
Climate, CO2, and anthropogenic drivers of accelerated vegetation greening in the Haihe River Basin Yang, W. J.
Spatiotemporal estimation of hourly 2-km ground-level ozone over China based on Himawari-8 using a self-adaptive geospatially local model Wang, Y.
Land use quantile regression modeling of fine particulate matter in Australia Wu, P.
The variation of net primary productivity and underlying mechanisms vary under different drought stress in Central Asia from 1990 to 2020 Li, S.
phenofit—An R package for extracting vegetation phenology from time series remote sensing Kong, D.
Australian fire nourishes ocean phytoplankton bloom Wang, Y.
Efficient machine learning regression algorithm using Naïve Bayes classifier for crop yield prediction and optimal utilization of fertilizer Chandana, C.
Positive interactions drive bat distribution in a remote oceanic archipelago (Azores, Portugal) Rainho, A.
SHOWING 10 OF 80

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 Science Data Set (SDS) 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
500m 16 days blue reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 3 N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 0.0001
500m 16 days composite day of the year Day of year VI pixel Julian day int16 -1 -1 to 366 N/A
500m 16 days EVI 500m 16 days EVI EVI int16 -3000 -3000 to 10000 0.0001
500m 16 days MIR reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 7 N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 0.0001
500m 16 days NDVI 500m 16 days NDVI NDVI int16 -3000 -3000 to 10000 0.0001
500m 16 days NIR reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 2 N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 0.0001
500m 16 days pixel reliability Quality reliability of VI pixel Rank int8 -1 -1 to 3 N/A
500m 16 days red reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 1 N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 0.0001
500m 16 days relative azimuth angle Relative azimuth angle of VI pixel Degree int16 -4000 -4000 to 18000 0.01
500m 16 days sun zenith angle Sun zenith angle of VI pixel Degree int16 -10000 -10000 to 18000 0.01
500m 16 days view zenith angle View zenith angle of VI Pixel Degree int16 -10000 -10000 to 18000 0.01
500m 16 days VI Quality VI quality indicators Bit Field uint16 65535 65535 to 65534 N/A
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