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MODIS/Aqua Land Surface Temperature/3-Band Emissivity 8-Day L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V061

Metadata Updated: October 23, 2025

A suite of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (LST&E) products are available in Collection 6.1. The MYD21 Land Surface Temperature (LST) algorithm differs from the algorithm of the MYD11 LST products, in that the MYD21 algorithm is based on the ASTER Temperature/Emissivity Separation (TES) technique, whereas the MYD11 uses the split-window technique. The MYD21 TES algorithm uses a physics-based algorithm to dynamically retrieve both the LST and spectral emissivity simultaneously from the MODIS thermal infrared bands 29, 31, and 32. The TES algorithm is combined with an improved Water Vapor Scaling (WVS) atmospheric correction scheme to stabilize the retrieval during very warm and humid conditions. The MYD21A2 dataset is an 8-day composite LST product that uses an algorithm based on a simple averaging method. The algorithm calculates the average from all the cloud free MYD21A1D and MYD21A1N daily acquisitions from the 8-day period. Unlike the MOD21A1 data sets where the daytime and nighttime acquisitions are separate products, the MYD21A2 contains both daytime and nighttime acquisitions as separate Science Dataset (SDS) layers within a single Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) file. The LST, Quality Control (QC), view zenith angle, and viewing time have separate day and night SDS layers, while the values for the MODIS emissivity bands 29, 31, and 32 are the average of both the nighttime and daytime acquisitions. Additional details regarding the method used to create this Level 3 (L3) product are available in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD).Known Issues Users of MODIS LST products may notice an increase in occurrences of extreme high temperature outliers in the unfiltered MxD21 Version 6 and 6.1 products compared to the heritage MxD11 LST products. This can occur especially over desert regions like the Sahara where undetected cloud and dust can negatively impact both the MxD21 and MxD11 retrieval algorithms. * In the MxD11 LST products, these contaminated pixels are flagged in the algorithm and set to fill values in the output products based on differences in the band 32 and band 31 radiances used in the generalized split window algorithm. In the MxD21 LST products, values for the contaminated pixels are retained in the output products (and may result in overestimated temperatures), and users need to apply Quality Control (QC) filtering and other error analyses for filtering out bad values. High temperature outlier thresholds are not employed in MxD21 since it would potentially remove naturally occurring hot surface targets such as fires and lava flows. High atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) caused by vast dust outbreaks in the Sahara and other deserts highlighted in the example documentation are the primary reason for high outlier surface temperature values (and corresponding low emissivity values) in the MxD21 LST products. Future versions of the MxD21 product will include a dust flag from the MODIS aerosol product and/or brightness temperature look up tables to filter out contaminated dust pixels. It should be noted that in the MxD11B day/night algorithm products, more advanced cloud filtering is employed in the multi-day products based on a temporal analysis of historical LST over cloudy areas. This may result in more stringent filtering of dust contaminated pixels in these products. * In order to mitigate the impact of dust in the MxD21 V6 and 6.1 products, the science team recommends using a combination of the existing QC bits, emissivity values, and estimated product errors, to confidently remove bad pixels from analysis. For more details, refer to this dust and cloud contamination example documentation. For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.Improvments/Changes from Previous Version The 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. A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB). The product utilizes GEOS data replacing MERRA2.* Three new CMG products are available in the MxD21 suite (MxD21C1/C2/C3).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 23, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 23, 2025
Publisher LP DAAC;NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/MODAPS
Maintainer
Identifier 10.5067/MODIS/MYD21A2.061
Data Last Modified 2025-09-11
Category Earth Science
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id d8fdd731-310a-4ff7-8f33-181ba030caac
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search?q=C2565805799-LPCLOUD
Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"NorthBoundingCoordinate":90,"WestBoundingCoordinate":-180,"EastBoundingCoordinate":180,"SouthBoundingCoordinate":-90}
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash ccd412abf748e33102b160aef4452356e36bd242f3412cb93eafbcc06dc6454d
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial
Temporal 2002-07-04/2002-07-04

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