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Description

The Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Vegetation Indices Monthly (MOD13A3) 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 MOD13A2 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
Terra
Instruments
MODIS
Projects
TERRA
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
2000-02-01 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
C2327962326-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
91847
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Vegetation Index ,
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ,
Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)

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 Monthly L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13A3.061 Date Accessed: 2026-06-04

File Naming Convention

MOD13A3.A2025152.h01v11.061.2025195144044.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD13A3) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025152), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h01v11), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025195144044), 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
Contrasting age-dependent leaf acclimation strategies drive vegetation greening across deciduous broadleaf forests in mid-to high latitudes Wang, Fangyi, Xue, Meimei, Zhou, Liming, Doughty, Christopher E., Ciais, Philippe, Reich, Peter B., Shang, Jiali, Chen, Jing Ming, Liu, Jane, Green, Julia K., Hao, Dalei, Tao, Shengli, Su, Yanjun, Liu, Lingli, Xia, Jianyang, Wang, Han, Yu, Kailiang, Zhu, Zaichun, Zhu, Peng, Li, Xing, Liu, Hui, Zeng, Yelu, Yan, Kai, Liu, Liyang, Lafortezza, Raffaele, Su, Yongxian, Meng, Yanqiong, Pan, Yixuan, Yang, Xueqin, Fu, Yongshuo H., He, Nianpeng, Yuan, Wenping, Chen, Xiuzhi Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology, Reflectance, Anisotropy
Disentangling the effects of temperature and rainfall on the population dynamics of Kalahari meerkats Thorley, Jack, Duncan, Chris, Gaynor, Dave, Manser, Marta B., Clutton-Brock, Tim Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Deep learning calibration model for PurpleAir PM2.5 measurements: Ghahremanloo, Masoud, Choi, Yunsoo, Momeni, Mahmoudreza Population Density, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Human Footprint and Forest Disturbance Reduce Space Use of Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) Across Europe Hertel, Anne G., Parres, Aida, Frank, Shane C., Renaud, Julien, Selva, Nuria, Zedrosser, Andreas, Balkenhol, Niko, Maiorano, Luigi, Fedorca, Ancuta, Dutta, Trishna, Bogdanovic, Neda, Bragalanti, Natalia, Chiriac, Silviu, Cirovic, Dusko, Ciucci, Paolo, Domokos, Csaba, Fedorca, Mihai, Filacorda, Stefano, Findo, Slavomir, Groff, Claudio, de Gabriel Hernando, Miguel, Huber, Djuro, Ionescu, Georgeta, Jerina, Klemen, Karamanlidis, Alexandros A., Kindberg, Jonas, Kojola, Ilpo, Mertzanis, Yorgos, Palazon, Santiago, Pop, Mihai I., Psaralexi, Maria, Quenette, Pierre Yves, Sergiel, Agnieszka, Skuban, Michaela, Zlatanova, Diana, ZwijaczKozica, Tomasz, De Barba, Marta Land Use/Land Cover, Anthropogenic/Human Influenced Ecosystems, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Measuring Sustainable Development Progress in Peru Using Multivariate Latent Markov Models Roscioli, Federico, Malerba, Daniele, Farcomeni, Alessio Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Linking climate variability to demography in cooperatively breeding Thorley, Jack, Duncan, Chris, Manser, Marta B., CluttonBrock, Tim Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Linking groundwater variability to ecosystem carbon and water use Chakraborty, Abhishek, Sekhar, M., Bhanja, Soumendra N., Rao, Lakshminarayana Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, 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
Long-term monitoring reveals scale-dependent decoupling of waterbird He, Miaomiao, Lin, Yufeng, Cheng, Cheng, Zhou, Zhiqin, Guo, Pingping, Fan, Xin, Wang, Wenqing Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity
Mapping 1-km soybean yield across China from 2001 to 2020 based on ensemble learning Zhang, Min, Xu, Xinlei, Ou, Junji, Zhang, Zengguang, Chen, Fangzheng, Shi, Lijie, Wang, Bin, Zhang, Meiqin, He, Liang, Zhang, Xueliang, Chen, Yong, Hu, Kelin, Feng, Puyu Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity
Malaria risk assessment in Indonesia: a machine and deep learning Sakti, Anjar Dimara, Mahdani, Jasmine Nur, Muhammad, Hubbi Nashrullah, Sihotang, Elstri, Santoso, Cokro, Khairunnisah, Fauziyyah, Afina Nur, Rinawan, Fedri Ruluwedrata, Supardi, Khairunnisa, Caraka, Rezzy Eko, Wikantika, Ketut Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Reflectance, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Large trees and artificial substrates support Asian stingless bee communities across green space habitats in urban environments Wayo, Kanuengnit, Nguyen, Tuan Ngoc, Piraonapicha, Kanyakorn, Nilsai, Areeruk, Bumrungsri, Sara, Sritongchuay, Tuanjit Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Land surface temperatures outperform gridded air temperatures in modeling forest growth across the Northern Hemisphere Yang, Feiyu, Xiong, Yujiu, Wang, Wenjin, Hu, Hongxing, Lai, Mantik, Zhang, Chao, Cao, Jiahao, Zhu, Leyao, Fan, Qibo, Zhao, Ying, Wang, Zhou, Zhang, Yaling, Liang, Hanxue, Qin, Li, Zhang, Tongwen, Cherubini, Paolo, Qiu, Guo Yu, Huang, Jian-Guo Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Land Use Changes and Their Driving Factors in the Liuchong River Basin Based on the Geographical Detector Model Xixi, Xue, Ya, Luo, Mengyao, Liao, Shuang, Zhao, Chunchang, Zhang, Xiaoke, Liang Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Interactions between brucellosis and environmental factors: spatiotemporal epidemiology from Xinjiang, China Wei, Chengjing, Zhang, Liping, Shang, Bo, Wang, Xiaodong, Zhao, Jiangshan Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Improvement of near-surface wind speed modeling through refined aerodynamic roughness length in high-roughness surface regions: implementation and validation ... Wang, Jiamin, Yang, Kun, Liu, Jiarui, Zhou, Xu, Ma, Xiaogang, Tang, Wenjun, Yuan, Ling, Ren, Zuhuan Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Planted Forests in China Have Higher Drought Risk Than Natural Forests Ma, Longlong, Ma, Jun, Yan, Pu, Tian, Feng, Penuelas, Josep, Rao, Mukund Palat, Fu, Yongshuo, Hu, Zhenhong Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Carbon, Cation Exchange Capacity, Organic Matter
Post-fire spectral recovery and driving factors across the boreal and Li, Li Kai, Liu, Zhihua, Xu, Wenru, Wang, Wenjuan, Su, Jiajia, Lv, Qiushuang, Guo, Wenhua, Johnson, Marie Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
People or predators? Comparing habitat-dependent effects of hunting and Moll, Remington J., Green, Austin M., Allen, Maximilian L., Kays, Roland Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Predictiveness and drivers of highly pathogenic avian influenza Opata, Michael Rogo, Lavarello-Schettini, Andrea, Semenza, Jan C., Rocklov, Joacim Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Preferential encroachment of high-quality cropland by urban expansion across China: Past trends and future projections Sheng, Shuangqing, Song, Wei Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
MULTI-AGENT GEOSPATIAL COPILOTS FOR REMOTE SENSING WORKFLOWS Lee, Chaehong, Paramanayakam, Varatheepan, Karatzas, Andreas, Jian, Yanan, Fore, Michael, Liao, Heming, Yu, Fuxun, Li, Ruopu, Anagnostopoulos, Iraklis, Stamoulis, Dimitrios Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Reflectance
Multiscale spatial dependency of small mammal diversity patterns and Onditi, Kenneth Otieno, Song, Wenyu, Chen, Zhongzheng, Li, Xueyou, Li, Quan, de la Sancha, Noe U., Musila, Simon, Jiang, Xuelong Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Latent Heat Flux
Optimizing soil conservation through comprehensive benefit assessment in Sun, Siqi, Lu, Yihe, Feng, Xiaoming, Maestre, Fernando T., Fu, Bojie Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Multi-scale soil erosion simulation by using an artificial neural network Rao, Wenli, Hu, Hongbo, Zhang, Qingfeng, Ren, Fanfei, Qu, Jiaqi Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Multi-Scenario Prediction and Driving Factor Analysis of Fractional Vegetation Cover in the BeijingTianjinHebei Urban Cluster Liu, Haohui, Liu, Wei, Wang, Junyue, Wang, Liangqi, Li, Kaiming, Zhao, Fen Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
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