Temperature Condition Index

The Temperature Condition Index (TCI) compares the current Land Surface Temperature (LST) to the range of values observed in the same period in previous years. The TCI is expressed in % and gives an idea where the observed value is situated between the extreme values (minimum and maximum) in the previous years. TCI used to determine stress on vegetation caused by temperatures and excessive wetness. Conditions are estimated relative to the maximum and minimum temperatures and modified to reflect different vegetation responses to temperature.

How it works

The TCI is calculated using the equation,

TCI = 100 * (LSTmax - LST)(LSTmax - LSTmin)

where:

LST is the current value of LST.
LSTmin is the long-term minimum value of LST.
LSTmax is the long-term maximum value of LST.

LST max and min derived from MODIS data.

About the data

Characteristic	Description
Function	a proxy for Vegetation Health Index calculation
Variable	TCI
Geographic coverage	Global (monthly) and Regional (16-days)
Spatial resolution	5.6 km (MOD11C3) and 1 km (MOD11A2) at equator
Temporal resolution	Monthly and 16-days
Format	GeoTIFF
Unit	Percent (%)

Data access

Global TCI data available at DEC S3: