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Description

The MOD13A3 Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MOD13A3 Version 6.1 data product.

The Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Vegetation Indices (MOD13A3) Version 6 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

  • 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
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 2023-01-31
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
C2763297270-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). MOD13A3 MODIS/Terra vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD13A3.006 Date Accessed: 2026-05-22

File Naming Convention

MOD13A3.A2002244.h00v10.006.2015151082733.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD13A3) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2002244), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h00v10), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2015151082733), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

SHOWING 3 OF 3

Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
Interspecific competition constrains local abundance in highly suitable Braz, Alan Gerhardt, de Viveiros Grelle, Carlos Eduardo, de Souza Lima Figueiredo, Marcos, Weber, Marcelo de Moraes Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
An integrated method for identifying present status and risk of drought in Bangladesh Sarker, Md., Janet, Nichol, Mansor, Siti, Ahmad, Baharin, Shahid, Shamsuddin, Chung, Eun-Sung, Reid, Jeffrey, Siswanto, Eko Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
An inversion model for estimating the negative air ion concentration using MODIS images of the Daxing'anling region Yue, Cui, Yuxin, Zhao, Nan, Zhang, Dongyou, Zhang, Jiangning, Yang Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity
A satellite-based spatio-temporal machine learning model to reconstruct daily PM2. 5 concentrations across Great Britain Schneider, Rochelle, Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana, Sera, Francesco, Masselot, Pierre, Stafoggia, Massimo, de Hoogh, Kees, Kloog, Itai, Reis, Stefan, Vieno, Massimo, Gasparrini, Antonio Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
A remote sensing and artificial neural network-based integrated agricultural drought indexIndex development and applications Liu, Xianfeng, Zhu, Xiufang, Zhang, Qiang, Yang, Tiantian, Pan, Yaozhong, Sun, Peng Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
A quantile approach for retrieving the "Core Urban-Suburban-Rural" (USR) structure based on nighttime light Huang, Yaohuan, Wu, Chengbin, Chen, Mingxing, Yang, Jie, Ren, Hongyan Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Reflectance, Total Surface Water
A multi-resolution air temperature model for France from MODIS and Landsat thermal data Hough, Ian, Just, Allan C., Zhou, Bin, Dorman, Michael, Lepeule, Johanna, Kloog, Itai Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
Forecasting NDVI in multiple complex areas using neural network techniques combined feature engineering Cui, Changlu, Zhang, Wen, Hong, ZhiMing, Meng, LingKui Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Assessment of soil erosion risk and its response to climate change in the mid-Yarlung Tsangpo River region Wang, Li, Zhang, Fan, Fu, Suhua, Shi, Xiaonan, Chen, Yao, Jagirani, Muhammad Dodo, Zeng, Chen Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Comparative evaluation of statistically downscaling Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission precipitation data: evidence from a typical semi-arid to arid environment Jaber, Salahuddin M. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Total Surface Precipitation Rate, Precipitation, Rain, Precipitation Amount, Precipitation Rate, Snow
Modifying the maximal light-use efficiency for enhancing predictions of vegetation net primary productivity on the Mongolian Plateau Jin, Hugejiletu, Bao, Gang, Chen, Jiquan, Chopping, Mark, Jin, Eerdemutu, Mandakh, Urtnasan, Jiang, Kang, Huang, Xiaojun, Bao, Yuhai, Vandansambuu, Battsengel Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Monitoring droughts in the greater Changbai Mountains using multiple remote sensing-based drought indices Han, Yang, Li, Ziying, Huang, Chang, Zhou, Yuyu, Zong, Shengwei, Hao, Tianyi, Niu, Haofang, Yao, Haiyan Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Emissivity, Land Surface Temperature, Total Surface Precipitation Rate
Spatiotemporal drought assessment using vegetation health index and standardized precipitation index over Sudano-Sahelian region of Nigeria Ekundayo, O. Y., Okogbue, E. C., Akinluyi, F.O, Kalumba, A.M, Orimoloye, I.R Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Testing trade-offs and the dominance-impoverishment rule among ant Sheard, Julie K., Nelson, Annika S., Berggreen, Jeppe D., Boulay, Raphael, Dunn, Robert R., Sanders, Nathan J. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Spatial and temporal effects of drought on Chinese vegetation under different coverage levels Ding, Yibo, Xu, Jiatun, Wang, Xiaowen, Peng, Xiongbiao, Cai, Huanjie Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Using FengYun-3C VSM data and multivariate models to estimate land surface soil moisture Wang, Lei, Fang, Shibo, Pei, Zhifang, Zhu, Yongchao, Khoi, Dao Nguyen, Han, Wei Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Updating the MEDALUS-ESA Framework for Worldwide Land Degradation and Ferrara, Agostino, Kosmas, Constantinos, Salvati, Luca, Padula, Antonietta, Mancino, Giuseppe, Nole, Angelo Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
The past, present and future of vegetation in the Central Atlantic Forest Corridor, Brazil de Santana, Romario O., Delgado, Rafael C., Schiavetti, Alexandre Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity
Cumulative Effects of Climatic Factors on Terrestrial Vegetation Growth Wen, Youyue, Liu, Xiaoping, Xin, Qinchuan, Wu, Jin, Xu, Xiaocong, Pei, Fengsong, Li, Xia, Du, Guoming, Cai, Yiling, Lin, Kui, Yang, Jian, Wang, Yunpeng Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Construction of comprehensive drought monitoring model in Jing-Jin-Ji region based on multisource remote sensing data Yu, Haozhe, Li, Lijuan, Liu, Yang, Li, Jiuyi Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Total Surface Precipitation Rate
Determining the impacts of climate change and urban expansion on terrestrial net primary production in China Wen, Youyue, Liu, Xiaoping, Bai, Yang, Sun, Yu, Yang, Jian, Lin, Kui, Pei, Fengsong, Yan, Yuchao Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Evaluation of terra-MODIS C6 and C6.1 aerosol products against Beijing, XiangHe, and Xinglong AERONET sites in China during 2004-2014 Bilal, Muhammad, Nazeer, Majid, Nichol, Janet, Qiu, Zhongfeng, Wang, Lunche, Bleiweiss, Max P., Shen, Xiaojing, Campbell, James R., Lolli, Simone Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Increased spatial heterogeneity in vegetation greenness due to vegetation greening in mainland China Yao, Rui, Wang, Lunche, Huang, Xin, Chen, Xinxin, Liu, Zhengjia Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Greening in rural areas increases the surface urban heat island intensity Yao, Rui, Wang, Lunche, Huang, Xin, Gong, Wei, Xia, Xiangao Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Influences of watershed characteristics on long-term annual and intra-annual water balances over India Sinha, Jhilam, Jha, Srinidhi, Goyal, Manish Kumar Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
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