The core of the data set is composed of products from the Moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. A range of pre-defined products derived from the MODIS sensors are available over the internet with free FTP access. All MODIS products are delivered in a pre-defined tiling system (figure 1). Each tile represent approximately 10 degrees by 10 degrees. For this project 125 tiles, representing the tropical land surface of the Earth, were selected. The study area includes the region between 25 degrees north and 25 degrees south. This is equivalent to vertical tiles 06 through 11. Some additional tiles where added to allow creating full extension of South America, Africa and Australia. The various datasets come in different projections and resolutions. Due to complications in handling the native sinusoidal projection of the MODIS products, all tiles (and ancillary data) have been projected to the local UTM zone. The header file for each reprojected tile contains detailed information on the projection.
