N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
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
- For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.
Version Description
Product Summary
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
Gorelick, N., Hancher, M., Dixon, M., Ilyushchenko, S., Thau, D., & Moore, R. (2017). Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone. Remote Sensing of Environment. MODIS Version 6 Leaf Area Index/FPAR 4-day L5 Global 500m Myneni, R., Y. Knyazikhin, T. Park. MOD15A2H MODIS/Terra Leaf Area Index/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V006. 2015, distributed by NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC, https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD15A2H.006 Landsat 5/7/8 Collection 1 Surface Reflectance
Landsat Level-2 Surface Reflectance Science Product courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Masek, J.G., Vermote, E.F., Saleous N.E., Wolfe, R., Hall, F.G., Huemmrich, K.F., Gao, F., Kutler, J., and Lim, T-K. (2006). A Landsat surface reflectance dataset for North America, 1990–2000. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 3(1):68-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2005.857030.
Vermote, E., Justice, C., Claverie, M., & Franch, B. (2016). Preliminary analysis of the performance of the Landsat 8/OLI land surface reflectance product. Remote Sensing of Environment. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.04.008. National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD)
Yang, Limin, Jin, Suming, Danielson, Patrick, Homer, Collin G., Gass, L., Bender, S.M., Case, Adam, Costello, C., Dewitz, Jon A., Fry, Joyce A., Funk, M., Granneman, Brian J., Liknes, G.C., Rigge, Matthew B., Xian, George, A new generation of the United States National Land Cover Database—Requirements, research priorities, design, and implementation strategies: ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, v. 146, p. 108–123, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2018.09.006 Resource Software Recommended: Microsoft Excel,url: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel
Resource Title: LAI_training_samples_CONUS.
File Name: LAI_train_samples_CONUS_v0.1.1.csv
Resource Description: This CSV file consists of the training samples for estimating Leaf Area Index based on Landsat surface reflectance images (Collection 1 Tire 1). Each sample has a MODIS LAI value and corresponding surface reflectance derived from Landsat pixels within the MODIS pixel. Contact: Yanghui Kang (kangyanghui@gmail.com)
Column description
UID: Unique identifier. Format: LATITUDE_LONGITUDE_SENSOR_PATHROW_DATE
Landsat_ID: Landsat image ID
Date: Landsat image date in "YYYYMMDD"
Latitude: Latitude (WGS84) of the MODIS LAI pixel center
Longitude: Longitude (WGS84) of the MODIS LAI pixel center
MODIS_LAI: MODIS LAI value in "m2/m2"
MODIS_LAI_std: MODIS LAI standard deviation in "m2/m2"
MODIS_LAI_sat: 0 - MODIS Main (RT) method used no saturation; 1 - MODIS Main (RT) method with saturation
NLCD_class: Majority class code from the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD)
NLCD_frequency: Percentage of the area cover by the majority class from NLCD
Biome: Biome type code mapped from NLCD (see below for more information)
Blue: Landsat surface reflectance in the blue band
Green: Landsat surface reflectance in the green band
Red: Landsat surface reflectance in the red band
Nir: Landsat surface reflectance in the near infrared band
Swir1: Landsat surface reflectance in the shortwave infrared 1 band
Swir2: Landsat surface reflectance in the shortwave infrared 2 band
Sun_zenith: Solar zenith angle from the Landsat image metadata. This is a scene-level value.
Sun_azimuth: Solar azimuth angle from the Landsat image metadata. This is a scene-level value.
NDVI: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index computed from Landsat surface reflectance
EVI: Enhanced Vegetation Index computed from Landsat surface reflectance
NDWI: Normalized Difference Water Index computed from Landsat surface reflectance
GCI: Green Chlorophyll Index = Nir/Green - 1
1 - Deciduous Forest
2 - Evergreen Forest
3 - Mixed Forest
4 - Shrubland
5 - Grassland/Pasture
6 - Cropland
7 - Woody Wetland
8 - Herbaceous Wetland
Reference Dataset:
All data was accessed through Google Earth Engine
Gorelick, N., Hancher, M., Dixon, M., Ilyushchenko, S., Thau, D., & Moore, R. (2017). Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone. Remote Sensing of Environment.
MODIS Version 6 Leaf Area Index/FPAR 4-day L5 Global 500m Myneni, R., Y. Knyazikhin, T. Park. MOD15A2H MODIS/Terra Leaf Area Index/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V006. 2015, distributed by NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC, https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD15A2H.006
Landsat 5/7/8 Collection 1 Surface Reflectance
Landsat Level-2 Surface Reflectance Science Product courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Masek, J.G., Vermote, E.F., Saleous N.E., Wolfe, R., Hall, F.G., Huemmrich, K.F., Gao, F., Kutler, J., and Lim, T-K. (2006). A Landsat surface reflectance dataset for North America, 1990–2000. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 3(1):68-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2005.857030.
Vermote, E., Justice, C., Claverie, M., & Franch, B. (2016). Preliminary analysis of the performance of the Landsat 8/OLI land surface reflectance product. Remote Sensing of Environment. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.04.008.
National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD)
Yang, Limin, Jin, Suming, Danielson, Patrick, Homer, Collin G., Gass, L., Bender, S.M., Case, Adam, Costello, C., Dewitz, Jon A., Fry, Joyce A., Funk, M., Granneman, Brian J., Liknes, G.C., Rigge, Matthew B., Xian, George, A new generation of the United States National Land Cover Database—Requirements, research priorities, design, and implementation strategies: ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, v. 146, p. 108–123, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2018.09.006
Resource Software Recommended: Microsoft Excel,url: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel}, publisher={ICPSR - Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research}, author={US Department of Agriculture and National Agricultural Library}, year={2026}, language={en} }
File Naming Convention
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
Publications Citing This Dataset
| Title | Year Sort ascending | Author | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increased Grain Crop Production Intensifies the Water Crisis in Northern | Li, Xiaojie, Zhang, Yongqiang, Ma, Ning, Zhang, Xuanze, Tian, Jing, Zhang, Lu, McVicar, Tim R., Wang, Enli, Xu, Junzeng | 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, Emissivity, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Area Index (LAI) | |
| In-season crop phenology using remote sensing and model-guided machine | Worrall, George, Judge, Jasmeet, Boote, Kenneth, Rangarajan, Anand | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Impacts of land cover changes on biogenic emission and its contribution to ozone and secondary organic aerosol in China | Ma, Jinlong, Zhu, Shengqiang, Wang, Siyu, Wang, Peng, Chen, Jianmin, Zhang, Hongliang | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification | |
| Improved Performance of CLM5. 0 Model in Frozen Soil Simulation Over Tibetan Plateau by Implementing the Vegetation Emissivity and Gravel Hydrothermal ... | Luo, Jiangxin, Huang, Anning, Lyu, Shihua, Lin, Zhaohui, Gu, Chunlei, Li, Zhaoguo, Deng, Mingshan, Zhao, Wen, Liu, Wanqing | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity | |
| Interactions between the summer urban heat islands and heat waves in | Cui, Fengqi, Hamdi, Rafiq, Kuang, Wenhui, Yang, Tao, He, Huili, Termonia, Piet, De Maeyer, Philippe | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation | |
| Measurements of Volatile Organic Compounds at a rural site in India: Variability and sources during the seasonal transition | Sindhu, S., Jain, Chaithanya D., Ratnam, M. Venkat, Sinha, Puna Ram | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation | |
| Mega Forest Fires Intensify Flood Magnitudes in Southeast Australia | Xu, Zhenwu, Zhang, Yongqiang, Bloschl, Gunter, Piao, Shilong | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Limited driving of elevated CO<sub>2</sub> on vegetation greening over | Jian, Dongnan, Niu, Guo-Yue, Ma, Zhuguo, Liu, Hongyan, Guan, Dabo, Zhou, Xin, Zhou, Juan | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Longer simulation time step of the tracer-aided hydrological model estimates lower contribution of slow runoff components | Nan, Yi, Tian, Fuqiang, Li, Zongxing, Gui, Juan | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) | |
| Mapping global forest regeneration-an untapped potential to mitigate | Ling, Pui-Yu, Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa, Baldwin-Cantello, William, Rayden, Tim, Gordon, James, Dainton, Stuart, Bagwill, April L, Pacheco, Pablo | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification | |
| Multi-Frequency Radiometry for Multi-Year Monitoring of Relative Water Content In A Temperate Forest | Hellwig, Florian M., Jagdhuber, Thomas, Fluhrer, Anke, Dubois, Clemence, Chaparro, David, Schellenberg, Konstantin, Piles, Maria, Schmullius, Christiane, Entekhabi, Dara | Vegetation Water Content, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Skin Temperature, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Snow Grain Size, Snow Cover, Surface Soil Moisture | |
| Parameter variability across different timescales in the energy balance-based model and its effect on evapotranspiration estimation | Hu, Xiaolong, Shi, Liangsheng, Lian, Xie, Bian, Jiang | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation | |
| Overestimated global dryland expansion with substantial increases in | Liu, Ziwei, Wang, Taihua, Yang, Hanbo | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Rapid Vegetation Growth due to Shifts in Climate from Slow to Sustained | Zhang, Yuxin, Wang, Junbang, Watson, Alan E. | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Quantifying effects of cold acclimation and delayed springtime | Luo, Yunpeng, Gessler, Arthur, D'Odorico, Petra, Hufkens, Koen, Stocker, Benjamin D. | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Observed and simulated local climate responses to tropical deforestation | Smith, Callum, Robertson, Eddy, Chadwick, Robin, Kelley, Douglas I, Argles, Arthur P K, Coelho, Caio A S, de Souza, Dayana C, Kubota, Paulo Y, Talamoni, Isabela L, Spracklen, Dominick V, Baker, Jessica C A | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy, Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Latent Heat Flux, Land Use/Land Cover Classification | |
| Land Surface Temperature Sensitivity to Changes in Vegetation Phenology | Park, ChangEui, Jeong, Sujong | Heat Flux, Air Temperature, Skin Temperature, Specific Humidity, Water Vapor, Precipitation Rate, Snow/Ice, Evaporation, Latent Heat Flux, Latent Heat Flux, Sensible Heat Flux, Diffusion, Surface Winds, Wind Speed, U/V Wind Components, Wind Stress, Wind Stress, Surface Roughness, Planetary Boundary Layer Height, Ice Fraction, Atmospheric Radiation, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Radiative Flux, Radiative Forcing, Surface Radiative Properties, Albedo, Emissivity, Cloud Properties, Cloud Fraction, Cloud Optical Depth/Thickness, Skin Temperature, Sea Surface Skin Temperature, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Modeling the biogenic isoprene emission and its impact on ozone pollution in Zhejiang province, China | Lou, Chenxi, Jiang, Fei, Tian, Xudong, Zou, Qiaoli, Zheng, Yanhua, Shen, Yang, Feng, Shuzhuang, Chen, Jiansong, Zhang, Lingyu, Jia, Mengwei, Xu, Jiawei | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification | |
| The Coupling of Soil Water and Leaf Phenology Observed by Satellite During Australian Bushfires in 20192020 | Liu, Yuqing, Shi, Wenzhong, Zhang, Min, Hao, Ming, Zhang, Hua, Sun, Yangjie | Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Terrain Elevation, Total Surface Precipitation Rate, Fire Occurrence, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Area Index (LAI), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) | |
| Spatial-temporal variations of terrestrial evapotranspiration across China from 2000 to 2019 | Fu, Jing, Gong, Yueqi, Zheng, Wenwu, Zou, Jun, Zhang, Meng, Zhang, Zhongbo, Qin, Jianxin, Liu, Jianxiong, Quan, Bin | Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Latent Heat Flux | |
| Synergy of remotely sensed data in spatiotemporal dynamic modeling of the crop and cover management factor | PREETHA, Pooja P., AL-HAMDAN, Ashraf Z. | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) | |
| Temperature Mediates the Dynamic of MODIS NPP in Alpine Grassland on the Tibetan Plateau, 20012019 | Cui, Jinxia, Wang, Yanding, Zhou, Tiancai, Jiang, Lili, Qi, Qingwen | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Revising precipitationwater storagesvegetation signatures with GRACE-based data assimilation | Gerdener, Helena, Kusche, Jurgen, Schulze, Kerstin, Ghazaryan, Gohar, Dubovyk, Olena | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux | |
| Spatio-temporal variability of water use efficiency and its drivers in major forest formations in India | Nandy, Subrata, Saranya, M., Srinet, Ritika | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) | |
| Secondary organic aerosol formation and source contributions over east China in summertime | Li, Jie, Han, Zhiwei, Wu, Jian, Tao, Jun, Li, Jiawei, Sun, Yele, Liang, Lin, Liang, Mingjie, Wang, Qin'geng | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification |