MODISderived

MODISderived refers to datasets and products produced by processing observations from the MODIS instrument to retrieve geophysical variables and thematic maps. MODIS is aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, launched in 1999 and 2002 respectively. With 36 spectral bands and spatial resolutions of 250 m to 1 km, MODIS provides near-daily global coverage, enabling routine derivation of environmental variables at regional to global scales.

MODISderived data products are generated through Level-1 calibrated radiances and subsequent Level-2/3 processing using specialized algorithms. Common MODISderived products include vegetation indices such as NDVI and EVI, leaf area index (LAI) and fractional vegetation cover, land surface temperature (LST) and emissivity, surface albedo, snow cover, burned area, aerosol optical depth (AOD), chlorophyll concentration in ocean waters, and sea surface temperature. These products are produced at multiple gridded resolutions and time scales (daily, 8-day, 16-day, monthly). Each product carries quality flags and uncertainty information.

Access and formats: MODISderived data are distributed through NASA’s LAADS DAAC and the Earthdata portal. They are typically provided in HDF-EOS or netCDF formats, with some reprojected to common GIS formats such as GeoTIFF. Tools such as AppEEARS and the MODIS Reprojection Tool (MRT) help users subset, reproject, and visualize data. MODISderived data support diverse applications in climate research, agriculture monitoring, drought assessment, wildfire management, water resources, and ecosystem studies.