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Description

The MOD15A2H Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MOD15A2H Version 6.1 data product.

The MOD15A2H Version 6 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) combined Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) product is an 8-day composite dataset with 500 meter (m) pixel size. The algorithm chooses the “best” pixel available from all the acquisitions of the Terra sensor from within the 8-day period.

LAI is defined as the one-sided green leaf area per unit ground area in broadleaf canopies and as one-half the total needle surface area per unit ground area in coniferous canopies. FPAR is defined as the fraction of incident photosynthetically active radiation, 400-700 nanometers (nm), absorbed by the green elements of a vegetation canopy.

Science Datasets (SDSs) in the Level 4 (L4) MOD15A2H product include LAI, FPAR, two quality layers, and standard deviation for LAI and FPAR. Two low resolution browse images, LAI and FPAR, are also available for each MOD15A2H granule.

Known Issues

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6 LAI and FPAR data products: (1) The Version 6 product uses the daily L2G-lite surface reflectance as input as opposed to MODAGAGG used in Version 5, (2) Products are generated at native resolution of 500 m rather than the 1000 m of the Version 5, and (3) Version 6 uses an improved multi-year land cover product.

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
2000-02-18 to 2023-02-17
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
C2763298089-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) ,
Leaf Area Index (LAI)

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

Myneni, R., Knyazikhin, Y., & Park, T. (2015). MOD15A2H MODIS/Terra Leaf Area Index/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD15A2H.006 Date Accessed: 2026-06-18

File Naming Convention

MOD15A2H.A2002273.h20v06.006.2015151112325.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD15A2H) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2002273), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h20v06), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2015151112325), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

DATA PRODUCT SPECIFICATION

PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Biophysical impacts of Earth greening largely controlled by aerodynamic resistance Chen, Chi, Li, Dan, Li, Yue, Piao, Shilong, Wang, Xuhui, Huang, Maoyi, Gentine, Pierre, Nemani, Ramakrishna R., Myneni, Ranga B. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation
Challenging a Global Land Surface Model in a Local Socio-Environmental System Dahlin, Kyla M., Akanga, Donald, Lombardozzi, Danica L., Reed, David E., Shirkey, Gabriela, Lei, Cheyenne, Abraha, Michael, Chen, Jiquan Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Albedo, Anisotropy, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Characterizing the error and bias of remotely sensed LAI Products: An Example for Tropical and Subtropical Evergreen Forests in South China Zhao, Yuan, Chen, Xiaoqiu, Smallman, Thomas Luke, Flack-Prain, Sophie, Milodowski, David T., Williams, Mathew Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation
Characteristics, drivers and feedbacks of global greening Piao, Shilong, Wang, Xuhui, Park, Taejin, Chen, Chi, Lian, Xu, He, Yue, Bjerke, Jarle W., Chen, Anping, Ciais, Philippe, Tmmervik, Hans, Nemani, Ramakrishna R., Myneni, Ranga B. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation
Characterizing spatial patterns of pine bark beetle outbreaks during the dry and rainy season's in Honduras with the aid of geographic information systems and remote sensing data Valdez Vasquez, Miguel Conrado, Chen, Chi-Farn, Lin, Yi-Jeng, Kuo, Yao-Cheng, Chen, Yan-You, Medina, Daryl, Diaz, Karla Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
Changes of light components and impacts on interannual variations of photosynthesis in China over 2000-2017 by using a two-leaf light use efficiency model Yan, H., Wang, S. Q., Wang, J. B., Shugart, H. H. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Soil Classification, Soil Chemistry, Soil Bulk Density, Nitrogen, Carbon, Soil Horizons/Profile, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Water Holding Capacity
Assessing the relationship between vegetation greenness and surface temperature through Granger causality and Impulse-Response coefficientsa case study in Mexico Reygadas, Yunuen, Jensen, Jennifer L.R., Moisen, Gretchen G., Currit, Nate, Chow, Edwin T. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
Maize yield estimation in kenya using MODIS Kenduiywo, B. K., Ghosh, A., Hijmans, R., Ndungu, L. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity
Lagged effects regulate the inter-annual variability of the tropical Bloom, A. Anthony, Bowman, Kevin W., Liu, Junjie, Konings, Alexandra G., Worden, John R., Parazoo, Nicholas C., Meyer, Victoria, Reager, John T., Worden, Helen M., Jiang, Zhe, Quetin, Gregory R., Smallman, T. Luke, Exbrayat, Jean-Francois, Yin, Yi, Saatchi, Sassan S., Williams, Mathew, Schimel, David S. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Investigating the leaf area index changes in response to climate change (case study: Kasilian catchment, Iran) Ramezani, Mohammad Reza, Massah Bavani, Ali Reza, Jafari, Mostafa, Binesh, Ali, Peters, Stefan Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Inversion of the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) from FY-3C MERSI data Hou, Weimin, Su, Jia, Xu, Wenbo, Li, Xinyi Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance
Increasing contribution of peatlands to boreal evapotranspiration in a warming climate Helbig, Manuel, Waddington, James Michael, Alekseychik, Pavel, Amiro, Brian D., Aurela, Mika, Barr, Alan G., Black, T. Andrew, Blanken, Peter D., Carey, Sean K., Chen, Jiquan, Chi, Jinshu, Desai, Ankur R., Dunn, Allison, Euskirchen, Eugenie S., Flanagan, Lawrence B., Forbrich, Inke, Friborg, Thomas, Grelle, Achim, Harder, Silvie, Heliasz, Michal, Humphreys, Elyn R., Ikawa, Hiroki, Isabelle, Pierre-Erik, Iwata, Hiroki, Jassal, Rachhpal, Korkiakoski, Mika, Kurbatova, Juliya, Kutzbach, Lars, Lindroth, Anders, Lofvenius, Mikaell Ottosson, Lohila, Annalea, Mammarella, Ivan, Marsh, Philip, Maximov, Trofim, Melton, Joe R., Moore, Paul A., Nadeau, Daniel F., Nicholls, Erin M., Nilsson, Mats B., Ohta, Takeshi, Peichl, Matthias, Petrone, Richard M., Petrov, Roman, Prokushkin, Anatoly, Quinton, William L., Reed, David E., Roulet, Nigel T., Runkle, Benjamin R. K., Sonnentag, Oliver, Strachan, Ian B., Taillardat, Pierre, Tuittila, Eeva-Stiina, Tuovinen, Juha-Pekka, Turner, Jessica, Ueyama, Masahito, Varlagin, Andrej, Wilmking, Martin, Wofsy, Steven C., Zyrianov, Vyacheslav Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
Improving SWAT model calibration using soil MERGE (SMERGE) Tobin, Kenneth J., Bennett, Marvin E. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Impact of revegetation of the Loess Plateau of China on the regional growing season water balance Ge, Jun, Pitman, Andrew J., Guo, Weidong, Zan, Beilei, Fu, Congbin Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation
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
Ecological setup, ploidy diversity, and reproductive biology of Paspalum modestum, a promising wetland forage grass from South America Karunarathne, Piyal, Feduzka, Cristian, Diego, Hojsgaard Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Discrepancies in the simulated global terrestrial latent heat flux from GLASS and MERRA-2 surface net radiation products Guo, Xiaozheng, Yao, Yunjun, Zhang, Yuhu, Lin, Yi, Jiang, Bo, Jia, Kun, Zhang, Xiaotong, Xie, Xianhong, Zhang, Lilin, Shang, Ke, Yang, Junming, Bei, Xiangyi Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation
Comparison of EPIC-simulated and MODIS-derived leaf area index (LAI) across multiple spatial scales Iiames, John S., Cooter, Ellen, Pilant, Andrew N., Shao, Yang Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification
Development of a topographic-corrected temperature and greenness model (TG) for improving GPP estimation over mountainous areas Xie, Xinyao, Li, Ainong Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Area Index (LAI), RADAR IMAGERY, Terrain Elevation, Topographical Relief Maps, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM)
Detecting regional GPP variations with statistically downscaled solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) based on GOME-2 and MODIS data Hu, Shi, Mo, Xingguo Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Flux variance similarity-based partitioning of evapotranspiration over a rainfed alfalfa field using high frequency eddy covariance data Wagle, Pradeep, Skaggs, Todd H., Gowda, Prasanna H., Northup, Brian K., Neel, James P.S. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Generating a spatio-temporal complete 30 m leaf area index from field and remote sensing data Zhou, Hongmin, Wang, Changjing, Zhang, Guodong, Xue, Huazhu, Wang, Jingdi, Wan, Huawei Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Generating high resolution LAI based on a modified FSDAF model Zhai, Huan, Huang, Fang, Qi, Hang Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance
Global soil moisture retrievals from the Chinese FY-3D microwave radiation imager Kang, Chuen Siang, Zhao, Tianjie, Shi, Jiancheng, Cosh, Michael H., Chen, Yingying, Starks, Patrick J., Collins, Chandra Holifield, Wu, Shengli, Sun, Ruijing, Zheng, Jingyao Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification
Fire decline in dry tropical ecosystems enhances decadal land carbon Yin, Yi, Bloom, A. Anthony, Worden, John, Saatchi, Sassan, Yang, Yan, Williams, Mathew, Liu, Junjie, Jiang, Zhe, Worden, Helen, Bowman, Kevin, Frankenberg, Christian, Schimel, David Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
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