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Description

The MOD16A2 Version 6.1 Evapotranspiration/Latent Heat Flux product is an 8-day composite dataset produced at 500 meter (m) pixel resolution. The algorithm used for the MOD16 data product collection is based on the logic of the Penman-Monteith equation, which includes inputs of daily meteorological reanalysis data along with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) remotely sensed data products such as vegetation property dynamics, albedo, and land cover.

Provided in the MOD16A2 product are layers for composited Evapotranspiration (ET), Latent Heat Flux (LE), Potential ET (PET) and Potential LE (PLE) along with a quality control layer. Two low resolution browse images, ET and LE, are also available for each MOD16A2 granule.

The pixel values for the two Evapotranspiration layers (ET and PET) are the sum of all eight days within the composite period and the pixel values for the two Latent Heat layers (LE and PLE) are the average of all eight days within the composite period. Note that the last acquisition period of each year is a 5 or 6-day composite period, depending on the year.

Known Issues

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6.1 net evapotranspiration 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, (2) A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB), and (3) The product uses Climatology Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) as back up to the operational LAI/FPAR.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
Instruments
MODIS
Projects
TERRA
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
2021-01-01 to Present
Temporal Resolution
8 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
C2343113232-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
71506
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Evapotranspiration ,
Latent Heat Flux

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

Running, S., Mu, Q., & Zhao, M. (2021). MODIS/Terra Net Evapotranspiration 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD16A2.061 Date Accessed: 2026-07-05

File Naming Convention

MOD16A2.A2025201.h07v05.061.2025217003056.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD16A2) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025201), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h07v05), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025217003056), 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
Using MODIS data to analyse the ecosystem water use efficiency spatial-temporal variations across Central Asia from 2000 to 2014 Zou, Jie, Ding, Jianli, Welp, Martin, Huang, Shuai, Liu, Bohua Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
What caused the extraordinarily hot 2018 summer in Korea? Ha, Kyung-Ja, Yeo, Ji-Hye, Seo, Ye-Won, Chung, Eui-Seok, Moon, Ja-Yeon, Feng, Xuelei, Lee, Yang-Won, Ho, Chang-Hoi Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Vulnerability of the Caspian Sea shoreline to changes in hydrology and climate Akbari, Mahdi, Baubekova, Aziza, Roozbahani, Amin, Gafurov, Abror, Shiklomanov, Alexander, Rasouli, Kabir, Ivkina, Natalya, Klve, Bjrn, Torabi Haghighi, Ali Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Discharge/Flow
Warming effort and energy budget difference of various human land use intensityCase study of beijing, China Zhou, Shenghui, Wang, Ke, Yang, Shiqi, Li, Wenli, Zhang, Yuxuan, Zhang, Bin, Fu, Yiming, Liu, Xiaoyan, Run, Yadi, Chubwa, Oliva, Zhao, Guosong, Dong, Jinwei, Cui, Yaoping Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Albedo, Anisotropy
Water storage redistribution over East China, between 2003 and 2015, driven by intra-and inter-annual climate variability He, Qing, Chun, Kwok Pan, Sum Fok, Hok, Chen, Qiang, Dieppois, Bastien, Massei, Nicolas 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, Latent Heat Flux, Total Surface Precipitation Rate
Water use efficiency data from 2000 to 2019 in measuring progress towards SDGs in Central Asia Chen, Yaning, Fang, Gonghuan, Hao, Haichao, Wang, Xuanxuan Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Uncertainty of drought information in a data-scarce tropical river basin Wambura, Frank Joseph Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Trends in streamflow, evapotranspiration, and groundwater storage across the Amazon Basin linked to changing precipitation and land cover Heerspink, Brent Porter, Kendall, Anthony D., Coe, Michael T., Hyndman, David W. Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
A comparison of three models used to determine water fluxes over the Albany Thicket, Eastern Cape, South Africa Palmer, A.R., Ezenne, G.I., Choruma, D.J., Gwate, O., Mantel, S.K., Tanner, J.L. Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Biogeochemical Cycles, Carbon, Nitrogen, Soil Heat Budget
Comprehensive evaluation of a spatio-temporal gap filling algorithmUsing remotely sensed precipitation, LST and ET data Siabi, Negar, Sanaeinejad, Seyed Hossein, Ghahraman, Bijan Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Data-based agroecological zoning of Acrocomia aculeata: GIS modeling and Resende, Rafael T., Kuki, Kacilda N., Correa, Thais Roseli, Zaidan, Ursula R., Mota, Pedro Henrique S., Telles, Lucas Arthur A., Gonzales, Duberli G.E., Motoike, Sergio Y., Resende, Marcos Deon V., Leite, Helio G., Lorenzon, Alexandre S. Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Crop yield estimation using multi-source satellite image series and deep learning Ghazaryan, Gohar, Skakun, Sergii, Konig, Simon, Rezaei, Ehsan Eyshi, Siebert, Stefan, Dubovyk, Olena Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Development of a system for analyzing the state of environment in areas of large industrial facilities, tailings and dumps Space Research Institute RAS, Loupian, E.A., Konstantinova, .., Balashov, I.V., Kashnitskii, A.V., Savorskiy, V.P., Panova, O.Yu. Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Downscaling satellite retrieved soil moisture using regression tree-based machine learning algorithms over southwest France Liu, Yangxiaoyue, Xia, Xiaolin, Yao, Ling, Jing, Wenlong, Zhou, Chenghu, Huang, Wumeng, Li, Yong, Yang, Ji Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Albedo, Anisotropy, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
DSCALE_mod16A model for disaggregating microwave satellite soil moisture with land surface evapotranspiration products and gridded meteorological data Sun, Hao, Zhou, Baichi, Zhang, Chuanjun, Liu, Hongxing, Yang, Bo Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Effects of irrigation on water, carbon, and nitrogen budgets in a semiarid watershed in the Pacific NorthwestA modeling study Zhu, Bowen, Huang, Maoyi, Cheng, Yanyan, Xie, Xianhong, Liu, Ying, Zhang, Xuesong, Bisht, Gautam, Chen, Xingyuan, Missik, Justine, Liu, Heping Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Contrasting hydrological seasonality with latitude in the South American ChacoThe roles of climate and vegetation activity Marchesini, Victoria A., Nosetto, Marcelo D., Houspanossian, Javier, Jobbagy, Esteban G. Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Continental drought monitoring using satellite soil moisture, data assimilation and an integrated drought index Xu, Lei, Abbaszadeh, Peyman, Moradkhani, Hamid, Chen, Nengcheng, Zhang, Xiang Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Determining the dry boundary of the LST/FVC space for soil moisture monitoringa semi-empirical method Sun, Hao, Ma, Liru, Wang, Yanmei, Zhou, Baichi, Liu, Weihan, Cai, Chuangchuang, Zhou, Wei, Chen, Wei Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Anisotropy, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
Detecting hydrological droughts in ungauged areas from remotely sensed hydro-meteorological variables using rule-based models Rhee, Jinyoung, Park, Kyungwon, Lee, Seongkyu, Jang, Sangmin, Yoon, Sunkwon Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Surface Soil Moisture, Surface Pressure, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Humidity, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff
Efficient water allocation strategy to overcoming water inequity crisis for sustainability of agricultural land: a case of Southern Punjab, Pakistan Maqbool, Ahsan, Ashraf, Muhammad Adnan, Khaliq, Abdul, Hui, Wang, Saeed, Muhammad Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Agricultural drought monitoring by MODIS potential evapotranspiration remote sensing data application Szewczak, Kamil, os, Helena, Pudeko, Rafa, Doroszewski, Andrzej, Gluba, ukasz, ukowski, Mateusz, Rafalska-Przysucha, Anna, Sominski, Jan, Usowicz, Bogusaw Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
A simple method for water balance estimation based on the empirical method and remotely sensed evapotranspiration estimates Falalakis, George, Gemitzi, Alexandra Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Precipitation, Precipitation Amount, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Rain
A spatially downscaled sun-induced fluorescence global product for enhanced monitoring of vegetation productivity Duveiller, Gregory, Filipponi, Federico, Walther, Sophia, Kohler, Philipp, Frankenberg, Christian, Guanter, Luis, Cescatti, Alessandro Emissivity, Land Surface Temperature, Albedo, Anisotropy, Reflectance, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Assessment of reference evapotranspiration across an arid urban environment having poor data monitoring system Shafieiyoun, Elham, Gheysari, Mahdi, Khiadani, Mehdi, Koupai, Jahangir Abedi, Shojaei, Paria, Moomkesh, Mohammad Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
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