MOD13A3 - MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices Monthly L3 Global 1km SIN Grid

Global MODIS vegetation indices are designed to provide consistent spatial and temporal comparisons of vegetation conditions. Blue, red, and near-infrared reflectances, centered at 469-nanometers, 645-nanometers, and 858-nanometers, respectively, are used to determine the MODIS daily vegetation indices.

The MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) complements NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) NDVI products providing continuity for time series applications over this rich historical archive. MODIS also includes a new Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) product that minimizes canopy background variations and maintains sensitivity over dense vegetation conditions. The EVI also uses the blue band to remove residual atmosphere contamination caused by smoke and sub-pixel thin cloud clouds. The MODIS NDVI and EVI products are computed from atmospherically-corrected bi-directional surface reflectances that have been masked for water, clouds, heavy aerosols, and cloud shadows.

Global MOD13A3 data are provided every month at 1-kilometer spatial resolution as a gridded Level-3 product in the Sinusoidal projection. Vegetation indices are used for global monitoring of vegetation conditions and are used in products displaying land cover and land cover changes. These data may be used as input for modeling global biogeochemical and hydrologic processes and global and regional climate. These data also may be used for characterizing land surface biophysical properties and processes, including primary production and land cover conversion.

Collection-5 MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices products are Validated at Stage 2, meaning that accuracy has been assessed over a widely distributed set of locations and time periods via several ground-truth and validation efforts. Although there may be later improved versions, these data are ready for use in scientific publications.