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Description

The MCD15A3H Version 6.1 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 4 combined Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) 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

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6.1 LAI/FPAR 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
Terra ,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent

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

Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Spatial Reference System(s)
MODIS Sinusoidal Tiling System
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2002-07-04 to Present
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
C2343110937-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
626939
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. (2021). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Leaf Area Index/FPAR 4-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD15A3H.061 Date Accessed: 2026-05-11

File Naming Convention

MCD15A3H.A2025213.h11v06.061.2025218033608.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD15A3H) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025213), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h11v06), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025218033608), 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 Topic
Fuels Mediate the Influence of Climate Teleconnections on Wildfires in Dryland Ecosystems Qu, Yuquan, Veraverbeke, Sander, Miralles, Diego G., Fan, Jingfang, Vereecken, Harry, Montzka, Carsten Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Surface Thermal Properties, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Fine-Scale Evaluation of Carbon Exchange Capacity in Terrestrial Zhang, Yu, Ma, Xiaofei, Luo, Geping, Xie, Mingjuan, Gao, Ruixiang, Wang, Shiyuan, Hamdi, Rafiq, Termonia, Piet, De Maeyer, Philippe Reflectance, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
From MODIS to Sentinel-2: A Regional Comparative Analysis of Crop-Yield Adriko, Kennedy, Sedona, Rocco, Seguini, Lorenzo, Riedel, Morris, Cavallaro, Gabriele, Paris, Claudia Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
HiQ-FPAR: A High-Quality and Value-added MODIS Global FPAR Product from Yan, Kai, Yu, Xinpei, Liu, Jinxiu, Wang, Jingrui, Chen, Xiuzhi, Pu, Jiabin, Weiss, Marie, Myneni, Ranga B. Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Historical and future dynamics of soil organic carbon and driving Zhang, Lei, Xu, Tongtong, Bai, Yue, Wiesmeier, Martin, Li, Huiwen, Huang, Yue, Liu, Yu, Xie, Beilong, Song, Mingrui, Wu, Jiaru, Liu, Chen Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, VEGETATION PRODUCTIVITY, Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Global Assessment of Environmental and Plant-Trait Influences on Root: Ding, Ruijie, Nobrega, Rodolfo L. B., Prentice, Iain Colin Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Global 0.1-Degree Monthly Mean Hourly Total Canopy Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Dataset Derived from Random Forest Liu, Yaojie, Zhao, Dayang, Zhang, Yongguang, Zhang, Zhaoying Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Impacts of environmental factors on ecosystem water use efficiency: An Kong, Zhe, Wang, Tiejun, Han, Qiong, Dai, Yibin, Zuo, Yutao, Wang, Lichun, Lang, Yunchao Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Improvement of FAPAR Estimation Under the Presence of Non-Green Li, Rui, Li, Baolin, Yuan, Yecheng, Liu, Wei, Zhu, Jie, Qi, Jiali, Liu, Haijiang, Ma, Guangwen, Jiang, Yuhao, Li, Ying, Tan, Qiuyuan Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Harnessing Satellite Data Alone for Mapping Global Thermal Anisotropy Zhan, Wenfeng, Du, Huilin, Liu, Zihan, Li, Jiufeng, Chakraborty, T. C., Huang, Fan Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), RADAR IMAGERY, Terrain Elevation, Topographical Relief Maps, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Increasing Aridity and Interannual Precipitation Variability Drives Wang, Wanting, Liu, Shiliang, Zhang, Qiang, Zhao, Yifei, Dong, Yuhong, Wu, Gang, Li, Yetong, Fan, Jingyang, Lin, Jiayi, Tian, Ziang, Phan Tran, LamSon Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, VEGETATION PRODUCTIVITY
Incorporating riparian vegetation and stochastic modelling in hydraulic geometry of the Yellow River Estuary inlet Song, Xiaolong, Xu, Haijue, Bai, Yuchuan Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Environmental contingency of forest-cloud interactions: Contrasting atmospheric enhancement and suppression mechanisms across Chinese climate gradients Yang, Zhaohui, Zhou, Zeyu, Sharma, Ram P., Zhang, Huiru Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Enhanced Climate Mitigation Feedbacks by Wetland Vegetation in Semi-Arid Liu, Tingxiang, Yu, Lingxue, Yan, Zhuoran, Li, Xuan, Bu, Kun, Yang, Jiuchun Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
Explainable machine learning identifies anthropogenic activity as a key Cui, Shuai, Liu, Jianyang, Tian, Yuping, Chen, Shuyuan, Hong, Woyuan, Liu, Zhen, Wang, Chengyuan, Wang, Bin, Quan, Ying, Li, Mingze, Shao, Guofan Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Exploring the monthly contribution of drivers on European summer Li, Hanyu, Vulova, Stenka, Rocha, Alby Duarte, Kleinschmit, Birgit Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Evaporation From Soil and Thermokarst Lakes Contribute More to Local Precipitation Than Plant Transpiration in Permafrost Regions of the Central QinghaiTibet Plateau Zhu, Xiaofan, Wang, Shengjie, Wu, Tonghua, Wu, Xiaodong, Chen, Jie, Lou, Peiqing, Ma, Xin, La, Yune, Zhang, Yu, Jie, Haixiang, Wen, Amin, Wang, Dong, Gong, Peng Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
DroughtSet: Understanding Drought Through Spatial-Temporal Learning Tan, Xuwei, Zhao, Qian, Liu, Yanlan, Zhang, Xueru RADAR IMAGERY, Terrain Elevation, Topographical Relief Maps, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Ecosystem carbon use efficiency at global scale from upscaling eddy-covariance data with machine learning and MODIS products Campos-Taberner, M., Gilabert, M. A., Sanchez-Ruiz, S., Martinez, B., Jimenez-Guisado, A., Garcia-Haro, F. J. Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Reflectance, Anisotropy, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, VEGETATION PRODUCTIVITY, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Compound effects of river routing and local rainfall-runoff for inflow Zang, Shuaihong, Weerts, Albrecht, van Verseveld, Willem Johan, Li, Zhijia, Huang, Pengnian Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Declining frequency yet increasing intensity of crop waterlogging events Deng, Chaozhong, Xiong, Qinxue, Harrison, Matthew Tom, Xu, Fuli, Xiang, Qian, Li, Liman, Liu, Ke Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Estimating Soil Moisture Using Multimodal Remote Sensing and Transfer Optimization Techniques Liu, Jingke, Liu, Lin, Yu, Weidong, Wang, Xingbin Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Coupling Remote Sensing With a Process Model for the Simulation of Xia, Yushu, Sanderman, Jonathan, Watts, Jennifer D., Machmuller, Megan B., Mullen, Andrew L., Rivard, Charlotte, Endsley, Arthur, Hernandez, Haydee, Kimball, John, Ewing, Stephanie A., Litvak, Marcy, Duman, Tomer, Krishnan, Praveena, Meyers, Tilden, Brunsell, Nathaniel A., Mohanty, Binayak, Liu, Heping, Gao, Zhongming, Chen, Jiquan, Abraha, Michael, Scott, Russell L., Flerchinger, Gerald N., Clark, Patrick E., Stoy, Paul C., Khan, Anam M., Brookshire, E. N. Jack, Zhang, Quan, Cook, David R., Thienelt, Thomas, Mitra, Bhaskar, MauritzTozer, Marguerite, Tweedie, Craig E., Torn, Margaret S., Billesbach, Dave Reflectance, Anisotropy, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Precipitation Amount, Maximum/Minimum Temperature, Shortwave Radiation, Snow Water Equivalent, Vapor Pressure
Denoising Autoencoder for Reconstructing Sensor Observation Data and Predicting Evapotranspiration: Noisy and Missing Values Repair and Uncertainty Quantification Johnsen, Timothy K., Bi, Xiangyu, Chou, Chunwei, Varadharajan, Charuleka, Wu, Yuxin, Skone, Jonathan, Ramakrishnan, Lavanya Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Disentangling Ecological Restoration's Impact on Terrestrial Water Storage Shen, Xiaofan, Niu, Liantao, Jia, Xiaoxu, Yang, Ting, Hu, Wei, Wu, Chaoyang, Chu, Jiangdong, Biswas, Asim, Shao, Ming'an Surface Pressure, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Humidity, Evapotranspiration, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Temperature, Land Surface Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
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