Land¶
Land data assimilation systems and land reanalyses, plus satellite-based soil moisture, evapotranspiration, vegetation (LAI, NDVI), land cover, land surface temperature, albedo, snow, terrestrial water storage and fire products for hydrology, agriculture, ecology and land-surface studies.
Tick two or more boxes on the left to compare them; click a column header to sort.
About resolution values — please read
- Provided resolution is the grid spacing you download from the main provider, not the model's native resolution. The same dataset can come on different grids from different providers or products, so always check the grid of the file you actually downloaded.
- km values are approximations at the equator (1° ≈ 111 km). Longitude spacing shrinks with cos(latitude): at 60° it is half (0.25° ≈ 14 km), so "28 km" is not 28 km everywhere.
- Gaussian grids have uneven latitude spacing, and ocean model grids (tripolar, curvilinear) vary from place to place. Grids with different latitude and longitude spacing are written as
0.5°×0.625°(lat × lon). - Polar-stereographic and EASE2 grids of sea-ice satellite products are defined in km; the degree value in brackets is a simple conversion. The NSIDC polar stereographic grid matches its nominal spacing only at 70° latitude.
- Grid spacing is not the size of the smallest feature actually resolved (effective resolution). Features are typically resolved only at several times the grid spacing, and interpolating to a finer grid adds no information.
- Temporal resolution is the shortest interval provided. Intervals and whether a value is instantaneous, mean or accumulated differ between variables — see 'Available variables' on each dataset page.
Land reanalyses & data assimilation¶
Land-surface models driven by observation-based forcing (precipitation, radiation, temperature, …) to estimate soil moisture, evapotranspiration, runoff and snow. Land-only reruns of atmospheric reanalyses are listed here too.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERA5-Land ↔ | Reanalysis | 1950-01 ~ present | Global | 11 km (0.1°) | 1 h | Available |
| GLDAS-2 | Reanalysis | 1948-01 ~ present | Global | 28 km (0.25°) | 3 h | Available |
| FLDAS | Reanalysis | 1982-01 ~ present | Global | 11 km (0.1°) | 1 day | Available |
| NLDAS-2 | Reanalysis | 1979-01 ~ present | North America | 14 km (0.125°) | 1 h | Available |
| TerraClimate | Observation-based analysis | 1950-01 ~ 2025-12 | Global | 4.6 km (0.042°) | 1 month | Available |
Soil moisture¶
Soil moisture retrieved from satellite microwave observations, and root-zone soil moisture from assimilating them into land-surface models.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESA CCI Soil Moisture | Satellite product | 1978-11 ~ 2024-12 | Global | 28 km (0.25°) | 1 day | Available |
| SMAP (L3·L4) | Satellite product | 2015-03 ~ present | Global | 9 km (0.083°) | 3 h | Available |
Evapotranspiration¶
Actual evapotranspiration and its components, estimated by combining satellite observations with models.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLEAM4 | Observation-based analysis | 1980-01 ~ 2025-12 | Global | 11 km (0.1°) | 1 day | Available |
| MODIS ET (MOD16) | Satellite product | 2000-02 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 8 days | Being replaced |
Vegetation¶
Satellite vegetation products such as leaf area index (LAI), fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) and vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI).
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODIS LAI/FPAR (MCD15) | Satellite product | 2000-02 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 8 days | Being replaced |
| VIIRS LAI/FPAR (VNP15) | Satellite product | 2012-01 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 8 days | Available |
| MODIS NDVI/EVI (MOD13) | Satellite product | 2000-02 ~ present | Global | 0.25 km (0.0025°) | 16 days | Being replaced |
| VIIRS NDVI/EVI (VNP13) | Satellite product | 2012-01 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 16 days | Available |
| CLMS LAI/FAPAR/FCOVER | Satellite product | 1999-01 ~ present | Global | 0.3 km (0.003°) | 10 days | Available |
| GLASS | Satellite product | 1981-01 ~ present | Global | 6 km (0.05°) | 1 day | Available |
| GIMMS NDVI | Satellite product | 1982-01 ~ 2022-12 | Global | 9 km (0.083°) | 15 days | Discontinued |
Land cover¶
Land cover maps classified from satellite imagery. Classification systems (IGBP, LCCS, …) and the number of classes differ between products.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODIS Land Cover (MCD12) | Satellite product | 2001-01 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 1 year | Being replaced |
| ESA CCI / C3S Land Cover | Satellite product | 1992-01 ~ 2022-12 | Global | 0.3 km (0.0028°) | 1 year | Update delayed |
| ESA WorldCover | Satellite product | 2020-01 ~ 2021-12 | Global | 0.01 km (0.00008°) | 1 year | Discontinued |
Land surface temperature & albedo¶
Land surface temperature (LST) from satellite thermal-infrared observations, and surface reflectance and albedo products.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODIS LST (MOD11·MOD21) | Satellite product | 2000-02 ~ present | Global | 1 km (0.01°) | 1 day | Being replaced |
| VIIRS LST (VNP21) | Satellite product | 2012-01 ~ present | Global | 1 km (0.01°) | 1 day | Available |
| MODIS BRDF/Albedo (MCD43) | Satellite product | 2000-02 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 1 day | Being replaced |
| VIIRS BRDF/Albedo (VNP43) | Satellite product | 2012-01 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 1 day | Available |
Snow¶
Satellite snow cover extent and snow water equivalent (SWE) products.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODIS Snow (MOD10) | Satellite product | 2000-02 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 1 day | Being replaced |
| VIIRS Snow (VNP10) | Satellite product | 2012-01 ~ present | Global | 0.375 km (0.0034°) | 1 day | Available |
| ESA CCI Snow | Satellite product | 1979-01 ~ 2023-12 | Global | 1 km (0.01°) | 1 day | Available |
Terrestrial water storage¶
Changes in terrestrial water storage (the sum of groundwater, soil moisture, snow and surface water) from satellite gravimetry.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GRACE / GRACE-FO | Satellite product | 2002-04 ~ present | Global | 56 km (0.5°) | 1 month | Available |
Fire¶
Satellite-detected burned area and fire emissions estimated from it.
| Dataset | Type | Period | Coverage | Provided resolution | Interval | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MODIS Burned Area (MCD64A1) | Satellite product | 2000-11 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 1 month | Being replaced |
| VIIRS Burned Area (VNP64A1) | Satellite product | 2012-03 ~ present | Global | 0.5 km (0.005°) | 1 month | Being replaced |
| GFED | Observation-based analysis | 1997-01 ~ present | Global | 28 km (0.25°) | 1 day | Available |
↔ Also listed in another section.