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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerated increase in vegetation carbon sequestration in China after 2010: A turning point resulting from climate and human interaction | Chen, Yongzhe, Feng, Xiaoming, Tian, Hanqin, Wu, Xutong, Gao, Zhen, Feng, Yu, Piao, Shilong, Lv, Nan, Pan, Naiqing, Fu, Bojie | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation | |
| Analogy-Based Crop Yield Forecasts Based on Temporal Similarity of Leaf | Liu, Yadong, Kim, Junhwan, Fleisher, David H., Kim, Kwang-Soo | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification | |
| Analysis of Priestley-Taylor method in different environments and | Florencia Degano, Maria, Carmona, Facundo, Olivera Rodriguez, Paula, Faraminan, Adan, Rivas, Raul, Bayala, Martin, Niclos Corts, Raquel | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy | |
| An assessment of the MOD17A2 gross primary production product in the Caatinga biome, Brazil | Ferreira, Rosaria R., Mutti, Pedro, Mendes, Keila R., Campos, Suany, Marques, Thiago V., P. Oliveira, Cristiano, Goncalves, Weber, Mota, Jonathan, Difante, Gelson, Urbano, Stella A., Fernandes, Leonardo, Bezerra, Bergson G., Santos E Silva, Claudio M. | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| An improved IBIS model for simulating NPP dynamics in alpine mountain ecosystems: A case study in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau | Zeng, Biao, Zhang, Fuguang, Wei, Lanlan, Zhang, Xiaomiao, Yang, Taibao | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) | |
| A revision of the Combined Drought Indicator (CDI) used in the European Drought Observatory (EDO) | Cammalleri, Carmelo, Arias-Munoz, Carolina, Barbosa, Paulo, de Jager, Alfred, Magni, Diego, Masante, Dario, Mazzeschi, Marco, McCormick, Niall, Naumann, Gustavo, Spinoni, Jonathan, Vogt, Jurgen | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| A modified two-leaf light use efficiency model for improving the | Guan, Xiaobin, Chen, Jing M., Shen, Huanfeng, Xie, Xinyao | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation | |
| A decadal (20082017) daily evapotranspiration data set of 1 km spatial resolution and spatial completeness across the North China Plain using TSEB and data fusion | Zhang, Caijin, Long, Di, Zhang, Yucui, Anderson, Martha C., Kustas, William P., Yang, Yang | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity | |
| A new linear relation for estimating surface broadband emissivity in arid regions based on ftir and modis products | Li, Huoqing, Liu, Zonghui, Mamtimin, Ali, Liu, Junjian, Liu, Yongqiang, Ju, Chenxiang, Zhang, Hailiang, Gao, Zhibo | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity | |
| A long-term estimation of biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emission in China from 20012016: the roles of land cover change and climate ... | Wang, Hui, Wu, Qizhong, Guenther, Alex B., Yang, Xiaochun, Wang, Lanning, Xiao, Tang, Li, Jie, Feng, Jinming, Xu, Qi, Cheng, Huaqiong | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Vegetation Cover | |
| A methodology to reconstruct LAI time series data based on generative adversarial network and improved Savitzky-Golay filter | Huang, Anqi, Shen, Runping, Di, Wenli, Han, Huimin | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification | |
| A framework to assess the potential uncertainties of three FPAR products | Chen, Xin, Chen, Tiexi, Shu, Yu, Yan, Qingyun, Han, Qifei, Wei, Xueqiong, Li, Chaofan, Wang, Guojie, Xie, Yong | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification | |
| 20 years of landscape dynamics within the world's largest multinational network of protected areas | Chetan, Marinela Adriana, Dornik, Andrei | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation | |
| Are Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration Models Reliable Across South | Melo, D. C. D., Anache, J. A. A., Borges, V. P., Miralles, D. G., Martens, B., Fisher, J. B., Nobrega, R. L. B., Moreno, A., Cabral, O. M. R., Rodrigues, T. R., Bezerra, B., Silva, C. M. S., Neto, A. A. Meira, Moura, M. S. B., Marques, T. V., Campos, S., Nogueira, J. S., Rosolem, R., Souza, R. M. S., Antonino, A. C. D., Holl, D., Galleguillos, M., PerezQuezada, J. F., Verhoef, A., Kutzbach, L., Lima, J. R. S., Souza, E. S., Gassman, M. I., Perez, C. F., Tonti, N., Posse, G., Rains, D., Oliveira, P. T. S., Wendland, E. | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Bark water storage plays key role for growth of mediterranean epiphytic lichens | Porada, Philipp, Giordani, Paolo | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Assessing variability of optimum air temperature for photosynthesis across site-years, sites and biomes and their effects on photosynthesis estimation | Chang, Qing, Xiao, Xiangming, Doughty, Russell, Wu, Xiaocui, Jiao, Wenzhe, Qin, Yuanwei | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance | |
| ASCAT IB: A radar-based vegetation optical depth retrieved from the | Liu, Xiangzhuo, Wigneron, Jean-Pierre, Fan, Lei, Frappart, Frederic, Ciais, Philippe, Baghdadi, Nicolas, Zribi, Mehrez, Jagdhuber, Thomas, Li, Xiaojun, Wang, Mengjia, Bai, Xiaojing, Moisy, Christophe | 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, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Photosynthetically Active Radiation | |
| CLASSIC v1.0: The open-source community successor to the Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS) and the Canadian Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (CTEM) - Part 2: Global benchmarking | Seiler, Christian, Melton, Joe R., Arora, Vivek K., Wang, Libo | Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Reflectance, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Carbon, Cation Exchange Capacity, Organic Matter, Burned Area, Albedo, Anisotropy | |
| Calibration of FEST-EWB hydrological model using remote sensing data in a climate transition region in Brazil | Araujo, Diego Cezar dos Santos, Montenegro, Suzana Maria Gico Lima, Corbari, Chiara, Viana, Jussara Freire de Souza | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity | |
| Can we use precipitation isotope outputs of isotopic general circulation models to improve hydrological modeling in large mountainous catchments on the ... | Nan, Yi, He, Zhihua, Tian, Fuqiang, Wei, Zhongwang, Tian, Lide | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) | |
| Application of optical remote sensing in rubber plantations: A systematic review | Azizan, Fathin Ayuni, Kiloes, Adhitya Marendra, Astuti, Ike Sari, Abdul Aziz, Ammar | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) | |
| Assessment of spatio-temporal variation and driving mechanism of ecological environment quality in the Arid regions of central asia, Xinjiang | Bi, Xu, Chang, Bianrong, Hou, Fen, Yang, Zihan, Fu, Qi, Li, Bo | Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Area Index (LAI), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Reflectance, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity | |
| Assessment of surface roughness and fractional vegetation coverage in the CoLM for modeling regional land surface temperature | Yuan, Xiuliang, Hamdi, Rafiq, Ochege, Friday Uchenna, De Maeyer, Philippe, Kurban, Alishir, Chen, Xi | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Emissivity, Land Surface Temperature | |
| Desertification of Iran in the early twenty-first century: assessment using climate and vegetation indices | Eskandari Dameneh, Hadi, Gholami, Hamid, Telfer, Matt W., Comino, Jesus Rodrigo, Collins, Adrian L., Jansen, John D. | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Emissivity, Land Surface Temperature | |
| Designing sustainable pathways for the livestock sector: the example of Atsbi, Ethiopia and Bama, Burkina Faso | Pfeifer, Catherine, Morris, Joanne, Ensor, Jonathan, Ouedraogo-Kone, Salifou, Mulatu, Dawit W., Wakeyo, Mekonnen | Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar) |