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Description
The Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Vegetation Indices Monthly (MOD13C2) Version 6.1 product provides a Vegetation Index (VI) value at a per pixel basis. 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 Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) consists of 3,600 rows and 7,200 columns of 5,600 meter (m) pixels. In generating this monthly product, the algorithm ingests all the MOD13A2 products that overlap the month and employs a weighted temporal average. Global MOD13C2 data are cloud-free spatial composites and are provided as a Level 3 product projected on a 0.05 degree (5,600 m) geographic CMG. The MOD13C2 has data fields for the NDVI, EVI, VI QA, reflectance data, angular information, and spatial statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and number of used input pixels at the 0.05 degree CMG resolution.
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).
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
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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)
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.
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Didan, K. (2021). MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13C2.061 Date Accessed: 2026-05-17
Didan, Kamel. “MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061.” NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2021. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MOD13C2.061. Date Accessed: 2026-05-17
Didan, Kamel. MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2021, doi:10.5067/MODIS/MOD13C2.061. Date Accessed: 2026-05-17
File Naming Convention
MOD13C2.A2025152.061.2025206111023.hdf
The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD13C2) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025152), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025206111023), and the Data Format (hdf).
Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Primary Production, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Gross Primary Production (gpp), Reflectance