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Description

The Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Vegetation Indices (MYD13A3) Version 6.1 data are provided monthly at 1 kilometer (km) spatial resolution as a gridded Level 3 product in the sinusoidal projection. In generating this monthly product, the algorithm ingests all the MYD13A2 products that overlap the month and employs a weighted temporal average.

The MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) complements NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) NDVI products and provides continuity for time series historical applications. MODIS also includes an Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) that minimizes canopy background variations and maintains sensitivity over dense vegetation conditions. The EVI uses the blue band to remove residual atmosphere contamination caused by smoke and sub-pixel thin clouds. The MODIS NDVI and EVI products are computed from surface reflectances corrected for molecular scattering, ozone absorption, and aerosols.

Vegetation indices are used for global monitoring of vegetation conditions and are used in products displaying land cover and land cover changes. These data may be used as input for modeling global biogeochemical and hydrologic processes as well as global and regional climate. Additional applications include characterizing land surface biophysical properties and processes, such as primary production and land cover conversion.

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

Known Issues

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6.1 vegetation indices data products: (1) 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, and (2) A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB).

Product Summary

Platforms
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
1000 Meters x 1000 Meters
Spatial Reference System(s)
MODIS Sinusoidal Tiling System
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2002-07-01 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Month
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
C2327957988-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
82647
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/Aqua Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD13A3.061 Date Accessed: 2026-02-13

File Naming Convention

MYD13A3.A2025182.h28v14.061.2025217235935.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MYD13A3) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025182), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h28v14), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025217235935), 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
Estimating long-term PM10-2.5 concentrations in six US cities using satellite-based aerosol optical depth data Pedde, M.
Heterogeneous air pollution controls its correlation to urban heat island—A satellite perspective Ding, Y.
Effects of social organization and elevation on spatial genetic structure in a montane ant Fontcuberta, A.
Global spatiotemporal consistency between meteorological and soil moisture drought indices Afshar, M. H.
Spatiotemporal dynamics and exposure analysis of daily PM2.5 using a remote sensing-based machine learning model and multi-time meteorological parameters Chen, B.
Practical geospatial and sociodemographic predictors of human mobility Ruktanonchai, C. W.
Collaboration for conservation: Assessing countrywide carnivore occupancy dynamics from sparse data Van der Weyde, L. K.
A spatiotemporal reconstruction of daily ambient temperature using satellite data in the Megalopolis of Central Mexico from 2003 to 2019 Gutiérrez‐Avila, I.
Potential and challenges of harmonizing 40 years of AVHRR data—The timeline experience Dech, S.
Statistical regression model of water, sanitation, and hygiene; treatment coverage; and environmental influences on school-level soil-transmitted helminths and schistosome prevalence in kenya: Secondary analysis of the national deworming program data Okoyo, C.
SHOWING 10 OF 17

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
1 km monthly blue reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 3 N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 0.0001
1 km monthly EVI 1 km monthly EVI EVI int16 -3000 -2000 to 10000 0.0001
1 km monthly MIR reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 7 N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 0.0001
1 km monthly NDVI 1 km monthly NDVI NDVI int16 -3000 -2000 to 10000 0.0001
1 km monthly NIR reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 2 N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 0.0001
1 km monthly pixel reliability Quality reliability of VI pixel Rank int8 -1 0 to 3 N/A
1 km monthly red reflectance Surface Reflectance Band 1 N/A int16 -1000 0 to 10000 0.0001
1 km monthly relative azimuth angle Relative azimuth angle of VI pixel Degree int16 -4000 -18000 to 18000 0.01
1 km monthly sun zenith angle Sun zenith angle of VI pixel Degree int16 -10000 0 to 18000 0.01
1 km monthly view zenith angle View zenith angle of VI Pixel Degree int16 -10000 0 to 18000 0.01
1 km monthly VI Quality VI quality indicators Bit Field uint16 65535 0 to 65534 N/A
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