Leaf Area Index (1 month - Terra/MODIS)

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Have you ever flown in a plane over a forest, or seen a picture of a forest canopy taken from above? If so, you probably noticed the forest canopy was colored shades of dark green. The trees' and plants' leaves give the forest its lush green appearance. The more leaves there are in a forested area, the greener the tree canopy. Have you ever wondered how many leaves there are in a forest? Today, scientists use NASA satellites to map leaf area index — images processed to show how much of an area is covered by leaves. For example, a leaf area index of one means the area is entirely covered by one layer of leaves. Knowing the total area covered by leaves helps scientists monitor how much water, carbon, and energy the trees and plants are exchanging with the air above and the ground below.

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December 2024

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1.0 degrees	360 x 180 download
0.5 degrees	720 x 360 download
0.25 degrees	1440 x 720 download
0.1 degrees	3600 x 1800 download
CSV for Excel older than 2007 download

What do the colors mean?

The colors in this palette range from tan, showing little or no leaf cover, to light green, indicating the area is entirely covered by one layer of leaves, to dark green showing thick forest canopies, where seven or more layers of leaves cover an area. Black means no data.

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Related Websites

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Credits

Imagery produced by the NASA Earth Observations team based on data provided by the MODIS Land Science Team.

Federal Geographic Data Committee Geospatial Metadata

View the FGDC Metatdata for Leaf Area Index (1 month - Terra/MODIS)

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