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Description

The MOD16A2 Version 6.1 Evapotranspiration/Latent Heat Flux product is an 8-day composite dataset produced at 500 meter (m) pixel resolution. The algorithm used for the MOD16 data product collection is based on the logic of the Penman-Monteith equation, which includes inputs of daily meteorological reanalysis data along with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) remotely sensed data products such as vegetation property dynamics, albedo, and land cover.

Provided in the MOD16A2 product are layers for composited Evapotranspiration (ET), Latent Heat Flux (LE), Potential ET (PET) and Potential LE (PLE) along with a quality control layer. Two low resolution browse images, ET and LE, are also available for each MOD16A2 granule.

The pixel values for the two Evapotranspiration layers (ET and PET) are the sum of all eight days within the composite period and the pixel values for the two Latent Heat layers (LE and PLE) are the average of all eight days within the composite period. Note that the last acquisition period of each year is a 5 or 6-day composite period, depending on the year.

Known Issues

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6.1 net evapotranspiration data products: (1) Version 6.1 Level-1B (L1B) products have been improved by undergoing various calibration changes that include: changes to the response-versus-scan angle (RVS) approach that affects reflectance bands for Aqua and Terra MODIS, corrections to adjust for the optical crosstalk in Terra MODIS infrared (IR) bands, and corrections to the Terra MODIS forward look-up table (LUT) update for the period 2012 – 2017, (2) A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB), and (3) The product uses Climatology Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) as back up to the operational LAI/FPAR.

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
2021-01-01 to Present
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
C2343113232-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
71219
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Evapotranspiration ,
Latent Heat Flux

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

Running, S., Mu, Q., & Zhao, M. (2021). MODIS/Terra Net Evapotranspiration 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD16A2.061 Date Accessed: 2026-06-19

File Naming Convention

MOD16A2.A2025201.h07v05.061.2025217003056.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MOD16A2) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025201), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h07v05), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025217003056), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Greening-Induced Biophysical Impacts Lead to Earlier Spring and Autumn Guo, Jing, Wang, Jinmei, Qiao, Yuxin, Huang, Xu, Smith, Nicholas G., Liu, Zhiyong, Zhang, Rui, Chen, Xiuzhi, Wu, Chaoyang, Penuelas, Josep, Chen, Lei Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Leaf Characteristics, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Anisotropy, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Albedo, Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Evapotranspiration determination with satellite and reanalysis data Degano, Maria Florencia, Rivas, Raul Eduardo, Bayala, Martin Ignacio Reflectance, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Albedo, Anisotropy, Brightness Temperature, Soil Moisture/Water Content
Natural forest regeneration is projected to reduce local temperatures Alibakhshi, Sara, Cook-Patton, Susan C., Davin, Edouard, Maeda, Eduardo Eiji, Araujo, Miguel Bastos, Heinlein, Daniel, Heiskanen, Janne, Pellikka, Petri, Crowther, Thomas W. Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy, Reflectance, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
On the importance of plant phenology in the evaporative process of a semi-arid woodland: could it be why satellite-based evaporation estimates in the ... Zimba, Henry M., Coenders-Gerrits, Miriam, Banda, Kawawa E., Hulsman, Petra, van de Giesen, Nick, Nyambe, Imasiku A., Savenije, Hubert H. G. Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Leaf Characteristics, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps
Multi-method soil moisture monitoring at two temperate forest stands in Germany Fath, Julian, Kneisel, Christof Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
More enhanced non-growing season methane exchanges under warming on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Liu, Zhenhai, Chen, Bin, Wang, Shaoqiang, Xu, Xiyan, Chen, Huai, Liu, Xinwei, He, Jin-Sheng, Wang, Jianbin, Wang, Jinsong, Chen, Jinghua, Wang, Xiaobo, Zheng, Chen, Zhu, Kai, Wang, Xueqing Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence sheds light on global evapotranspiration Zhang, Quan, Liu, Xuanqi, Zhou, Kai, Zhou, Yang, Gentine, Pierre, Pan, Ming, Katul, Gabriel G. Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Relationships between current climate and deforestation on citrus productivity in Northeastern Para (Eastern Amazon) Dias, Thaiane Soeiro da Silva, Souza, Everaldo Barreiros de Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Resilience of an Urban Coastal Ecosystem in the Caribbean: A Remote Sensing Approach in Western Puerto Rico Bonilla-Roman, Yadiel Noel, Acuna-Guzman, Salvador Francisco Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
The Divergent Changes in Surface Water Area after the South-to-North Guo, Tongze, Li, Runkui, Xiao, Zhen, Cai, Panli, Guo, Jingxian, Fu, Haiyu, Zhang, Xiaoping, Song, Xianfeng Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
The Planetary Child Health & Enterics Observatory (Plan-EO): A protocol Colston, Josh M., Fang, Bin, Houpt, Eric, Chernyavskiy, Pavel, Swarup, Samarth, Gardner, Lauren M., Nong, Malena K., Badr, Hamada S., Zaitchik, Benjamin F., Lakshmi, Venkataraman, Kosek, Margaret N. Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Study on mapping method of irrigated cultivated landtaking Nebraska as an example Zhu, Xiufang, Liu, Ying, Xu, Kun Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Streamflow modeling in the Colombian Andes: insights from watersheds with diverse physical properties and climate patterns Alvarez, Mariana, Barco, Janet Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Toward robust pattern similarity metric for distributed model evaluation Yorulmaz, Eymen Berkay, Kartal, Elif, Demirel, Mehmet Cuneyd Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Tradeoffs Between Temporal and Spatial Pattern Calibration and Their Demirel, M. C., Koch, J., Rakovec, O., Kumar, R., Mai, J., Muller, S., Thober, S., Samaniego, L., Stisen, S. RADAR IMAGERY, Terrain Elevation, Topographical Relief Maps, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Thermodynamic satellite monitoring of forest ecosystems health in the of Gulf of Finland catchment area (using the example of the Karelian Isthmus) Gornyy, V.I., Saint Petersburg Federal Research Center RAS, Kiselev, A.V., Bezruchenko, P.A., Manvelova, A.B., Tronin, A.A., Bril, A.A., Mazurov, A.A. Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Latent Heat Flux
Thermodynamic Satellite Monitoring of the Health of Forest Ecosystems in the Gulf of Finland Catchment Area (Using the Example of the Karelian Isthmus) Gornyy, V. I., Kiselev, A. V., Bezruchenko, P. A., Manvelova, A. B., Tronin, A. A., Bril, A. A., Mazurov, A. A. Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Latent Heat Flux
Trends in atmospheric water vapour over the Thar Desert during Indian Summer Monsoon period of 20032020 Patel, Vikas Kumar, Kuttippurath, Jayanarayanan Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
When ancient numerical demons meet physics-informed machine learning: adjoint-based gradients for implicit differentiable modeling Song, Yalan, Knoben, Wouter J. M., Clark, Martyn P., Feng, Dapeng, Lawson, Kathryn, Sawadekar, Kamlesh, Shen, Chaopeng Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Detection of dilution due to turbulent mixing vs. precipitation scavenging effects on biomass burning aerosol concentrations using stable water isotope ratios ... Henze, Dean, Noone, David, Toohey, Darin Geopotential Height, Atmospheric Ozone, Sea Level Pressure, Surface Pressure, Upper Air Temperature, Vertical Profiles, Air Temperature, Specific Humidity, U/V Wind Components, U/V Wind Components, Ozone Profiles, Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness, Atmospheric Water Vapor, Precipitation, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
A dynamical downscaling method of groundwater storage changes using GRACE data Sun, Jianchong, Hu, Litang, Cao, Xiaoyuan, Liu, Dongxu, Liu, Xin, Sun, Kangning 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, Latent Heat Flux, Total Surface Precipitation Rate
Aerodynamic effects cause higher forest evapotranspiration and water Meili, Naika, Beringer, Jason, Zhao, Jiacheng, Fatichi, Simone Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Analytical framework based on thermodynamics to estimate spatially distributed surface energy fluxes from remotely sensed radiations Gupta, Mayank, Wild, Martin, Ghosh, Subimal Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Agricultural drought characteristics in a typical plain region Zhang, Yuliang, Wu, Zhiyong, Singh, Vijay P., Lin, Qingxia, Ning, Shaowei, Zhou, Yuliang, Jin, Juliang, Zhou, Rongxing, Ma, Qiang Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
Characterizing precipitation uncertainties in a high-altitudinal Jiang, Huiru, Yi, Yonghong, Xu, Jijun, Chen, Deliang, Lu, Fan, Li, Rongxing, Wang, Xuejia, Zhou, Binrong Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux
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