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Description

The MOD13A1 Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MOD13A1 Version 6.1 data product.

The MOD13A1 Version 6 product provides Vegetation Index (VI) values at a per pixel basis at 500 meter (m) spatial resolution. 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 algorithm for this product chooses the best available pixel value from all the acquisitions from the 16 day period. The criteria used is low clouds, low view angle, and the highest NDVI/EVI value.

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

Known Issues

  • The following issues have been detected:

    • Unexpected missing data in the last cycles of each year.
    • Incorrect instances of "NoData" and spikes in NDVI values.
    • VI Usefulness Bits are not correctly assigned.
  • For instances where the VI Quality (bits 0-1) is flagged as good and the VI Usefulness (bits 2-5) indicates the same pixels have the lowest usefulness score, users are advised to disregard the usefulness score.
  • The incorrect representation of the aerosol quantities (low, average, high) in the Collection 6 MOD09 surface reflectance products may have impacted MOD13 Vegetation Index data products particularly over arid bright surfaces.
  • Corrections were implemented in Collection 6.1 reprocessing.
  • For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6 vegetation index data products: (1) The 16-day composite VI is generated using the two 8-day composite surface reflectance granules (MOD09A1) in the 16-day period, (2) This surface reflectance input is based on the minimum blue compositing approach used to generate the 8-day surface reflectance product, (3) The product format is consistent with the Version 5 product generated using the Level 2 gridded daily surface reflectance product, and (4) A frequently updated long-term global Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) Average Vegetation Index product database is used to fill the gaps in the CMG product suite.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
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
2000-02-18 to 2023-02-17
Temporal Resolution
16 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
C2763297262-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
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. (2015). MOD13A1 MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13A1.006 Date Accessed: 2026-05-11

File Naming Convention

MOD13A1.A2002257.h21v13.006.2015151084135.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD13A1) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2002257), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h21v13), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2015151084135), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

SHOWING 4 OF 4

Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
Identifying vegetation dynamics and sensitivities in response to water resources management in the Heihe River Basin in China Yin, Dongqin, Li, Xiang, Huang, Yuefei, Si, Yuan, Bai, Rui Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Inferring anthropogenic trends from satellite data for water-sustainability of US cities near artificial reservoirs Yigzaw, Wondmagegn, Hossain, Faisal Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
National forest aboveground biomass mapping from ICESat/GLAS data and MODIS imagery in China Chi, Hong, Sun, Guoqing, Huang, Jinliang, Guo, Zhifeng, Ni, Wenjian, Fu, Anmin Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Land cover mapping of a tropical region by integrating multi-year data into an annual time series Anaya, Jesus, Colditz, Rene, Valencia, German Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Lidar with multi-temporal MODIS provide a means to upscale predictions of forest biomass Li, Le, Guo, Qinghua, Tao, Shengli, Kelly, Maggi, Xu, Guangcai Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Water allocation and water consumption of irrigated agriculture and natural vegetation in the Aksu-Tarim river basin, Xinjiang, China Thevs, Niels, Peng, Haiyan, Rozi, Ahmedjan, Zerbe, Stefan, Abdusalih, Nurbay Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Albedo, Anisotropy
Modifying SEBAL model based on the trapezoidal relationship between land surface temperature and vegetation index for actual evapotranspiration estimation Wang, Xiao-Gang, Wang, Wen, Huang, Dui, Yong, Bin, Chen, Xi Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Albedo, Anisotropy
Multi-scale influence of vapor pressure deficit on fire ignition and spread in boreal forest ecosystems Sedano, F., Randerson, J. T. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Spatio-temporal patterns of precipitation-use efficiency of vegetation and their controlling factors in Inner Mongolia Shao-Jie, MU, Ke-Xin, ZHOU, Yang, QI, Yi-Zhao, CHEN, Ying, FANG, ZHU Chao, and Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Rice equivalent crop yield assessment using MODIS Sensors' Based MOD13A1-NDVI Data Tomar, Vandana, Mandal, Vinay Prasad, Srivastava, Pragati, Patairiya, Shashikanta, Singh, Kartar, Ravisankar, Natesan, Subash, Natraj, Kumar, Pavan Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
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