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i.modis.download

Download single or multiple tiles of MODIS products using pyModis.

i.modis.download [-dgcl] [settings=name] [product=string [,string,...]] [tiles=string] [startday=string] [endday=string] [folder=string] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--qq] [--ui]

Example:

i.modis.download

grass.script.parse_command("i.modis.download", settings=None, product="lst_terra_daily_1000", tiles=None, startday=None, endday=None, folder=None, flags=None, verbose=False, quiet=False, superquiet=False)

Example:

gs.parse_command("i.modis.download")

Parameters

settings=name
    Full path to settings file or '-' for standard input, empty for .netrc file
    Name of input file
product=string [,string,...]
    Name of MODIS product(s)
    Allowed values: lst_terra_daily_1000, lst_aqua_daily_1000, lst_terra_eight_1000, lst_aqua_eight_1000, lst_terra_daily_5600, lst_aqua_daily_5600, lst_terra_monthly_5600, lst_aqua_monthly_5600, ndvi_terra_sixteen_250, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_250, ndvi_terra_sixteen_500, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_500, ndvi_terra_sixteen_1000, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_1000, ndvi_terra_sixteen_5600, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_5600, ndvi_terra_monthly_1000, ndvi_aqua_monthly_1000, ndvi_terra_monthly_5600, ndvi_aqua_monthly_5600, snow_terra_daily_500, snow_aqua_daily_500, snow_terra_eight_500, snow_aqua_eight_500, surfreflec_terra_daily_500, surfreflec_aqua_daily_500, surfreflec_terra_eight_500, surfreflec_aqua_eight_500, water_terra_250, aerosol_terra_aqua_daily_1000
    Default: lst_terra_daily_1000
tiles=string
    The name(s) of tile(s) to download (comma separated). If not set, all available tiles are downloaded
    e.g.: h18v04
startday=string
    First date to download
    Format: YYYY-MM-DD. If not set the download starts from current date and goes back 10 days. If not endday is set, the download stops 10 days after the startday
endday=string
    Last date to download
    Format: YYYY-MM-DD. To use only with startday
folder=string
    Folder to store the downloaded data
    If not set, path to settings file is used
-d
    Debug mode, writing more info into the log file
-g
    Return the name of file containing the list of HDF tiles downloaded in shell script style
-c
    Do not perform GDAL check on downloaded images
-l
    List more info about the supported MODIS products
--help
    Print usage summary
--verbose
    Verbose module output
--quiet
    Quiet module output
--qq
    Very quiet module output
--ui
    Force launching GUI dialog

settings : str, optional
    Full path to settings file or '-' for standard input, empty for .netrc file
    Name of input file
    Used as: input, file, name
product : str | list[str], optional
    Name of MODIS product(s)
    Allowed values: lst_terra_daily_1000, lst_aqua_daily_1000, lst_terra_eight_1000, lst_aqua_eight_1000, lst_terra_daily_5600, lst_aqua_daily_5600, lst_terra_monthly_5600, lst_aqua_monthly_5600, ndvi_terra_sixteen_250, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_250, ndvi_terra_sixteen_500, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_500, ndvi_terra_sixteen_1000, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_1000, ndvi_terra_sixteen_5600, ndvi_aqua_sixteen_5600, ndvi_terra_monthly_1000, ndvi_aqua_monthly_1000, ndvi_terra_monthly_5600, ndvi_aqua_monthly_5600, snow_terra_daily_500, snow_aqua_daily_500, snow_terra_eight_500, snow_aqua_eight_500, surfreflec_terra_daily_500, surfreflec_aqua_daily_500, surfreflec_terra_eight_500, surfreflec_aqua_eight_500, water_terra_250, aerosol_terra_aqua_daily_1000
    Default: lst_terra_daily_1000
tiles : str, optional
    The name(s) of tile(s) to download (comma separated). If not set, all available tiles are downloaded
    e.g.: h18v04
startday : str, optional
    First date to download
    Format: YYYY-MM-DD. If not set the download starts from current date and goes back 10 days. If not endday is set, the download stops 10 days after the startday
endday : str, optional
    Last date to download
    Format: YYYY-MM-DD. To use only with startday
folder : str, optional
    Folder to store the downloaded data
    If not set, path to settings file is used
flags : str, optional
    Allowed values: d, g, c, l
    d
        Debug mode, writing more info into the log file
    g
        Return the name of file containing the list of HDF tiles downloaded in shell script style
    c
        Do not perform GDAL check on downloaded images
    l
        List more info about the supported MODIS products
verbose: bool, optional
    Verbose module output
    Default: False
quiet: bool, optional
    Quiet module output
    Default: False
superquiet: bool, optional
    Very quiet module output
    Default: False

DESCRIPTION

i.modis.download downloads selected MODIS products (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, flown on the two NASA spacecrafts Terra and Aqua). The module can download several tiles at once and also multiple observation dates for each MODIS product.

NOTES

The i.modis modules need the pyModis library. Please install it beforehand.

To be able to download data the user needs to obtain user and password for the NASA Earthdata Login:

  • First time user: The user has to register at https://urs.earthdata.nasa.gov/users/new; then login and change to their profile page. Once there, under the "Applications" tab > "Authorized Apps", the user needs to approve the following applications (there is a search box that makes it easier to find the items):
  • "LP DAAC Data Pool", and
  • "Earthdata Search".
  • If the user is already registered, he/she just needs to login and enable the aforementioned applications at https://urs.earthdata.nasa.gov/home if not already done.

In order to download the desired MODIS product(s), the username and password must be provided through the settings option. There are three ways:

  • using the .netrc file as showed below:

    machine e4ftl01.cr.usgs.gov
login your_NASA_username
password your_NASA_password

  • pass a file in which the first row is the username, and the second row is the password, as showed below:

    your_NASA_username
your_NASA_password

  • the user can pass the values from the standard input when prompted.

Warning: As per NASA policy no more than ten simultaneous connections are permitted in parallel with their server. Hence, no more than ten processes of i.modis.download should run at the same time to avoid that user's actual IP address gets blacklisted.

By default, the downloaded files are stored in the path in which the settings file was saved. The user can change this directory with the folder option. The folder option is required when user and password are passed through the standard input.

The needed time for the download depends on the number of requested tiles, days and the type of MODIS product. For example, the NDVI product ranges from 5 MB to 270 MB and the LST product ranges from 2 MB to 21 MB.

EXAMPLES

MODIS NDVI Global with stored credentials

Download of the global MODIS product MOD13C1 - MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V006 by selecting a specific month, using the credentials conveniently stored in

$HOME/.netrc

file:

# note: provided in Geographic Lat/Long Grid
i.modis.download product=ndvi_terra_sixteen_5600 startday=2020-05-01 endday=2020-05-31 folder=/path/to/modisdata/

MODIS Land Surface Temperature

Download of the daily MODIS LST product "lst_terra_daily_1000" from the Terra satellite using the default options (all available tiles from newest available date) and passing the user and password through standard input. Note that when settings is read from standard input, the option folder must be specified:

i.modis.download settings=- folder=/path/to/modisdata/

Reading the user and password options from a file (this will download by default the "lst_terra_daily_1000" product). MODIS data will be downloaded to the folder where the SETTING file is:

i.modis.download settings=$HOME/.grass8/i.modis/SETTING

Download of the LST Terra product using the default options and change of the starting and ending dates to custom values:

i.modis.download settings=$HOME/.grass8/i.modis/SETTING startday=2011-05-01 endday=2011-05-31 folder=/path/to/modisdata/

MODIS Snow

Download of a different product (here: Snow eight days 500 m), default options (for settings, see example above):

i.modis.download settings=$HOME/.grass8/i.modis/SETTING product=snow_terra_eight_500 folder=/path/to/modisdata/

MODIS NDVI Global

Download of a global MODIS product (here: MOD13C1 - MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061), of a specific month (for settings, see example above):

# note: provided in Geographic Lat/Long Grid
i.modis.download settings=$HOME/.grass8/i.modis/SETTING product=ndvi_terra_sixteen_5600 startday=2011-05-01 endday=2011-05-31 folder=/path/to/modisdata/

Download of MODIS data in scripts

To use i.modis.download in a script and to concatenate it with another module, the user needs to set the -g flag to return the name of the file that contains the list of downloaded HDF files:

i.modis.download -g settings=$HOME/.grass8/i.modis/SETTING startday=2011-05-01 endday=2011-05-31 folder=/path/to/modisdata/

SEE ALSO

i.modis, i.modis.import

GRASS GIS Wiki: temporal data processing

Map of MODIS Land products' Sinusoidal grid tiling system

AUTHOR

Luca Delucchi, Google Summer of Code 2011; subsequently updated.

SOURCE CODE

Available at: i.modis.download source code (history)
Latest change: Thursday Mar 20 21:36:57 2025 in commit 7286ecf