INFORMATION ON THE AREA AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF PADDY RICE FIELDS ARE USED BY DECISION MAKERS FOR AGRICULTURAL, NATURAL HAZARD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT, AND FOOD SECURITY PURPOSES. IN ORDER TO PREPARE INFORMATION ABOUT SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF RICE FIELDS, MULTI-SPECTRAL AND MULTI-TEMPORAL DATA CAN BE HELPFUL BECAUSE IN ADDITION TO THE RICE, ALL FIELDS COULD BE COVERED BY MIXTURE OF WATER AND SOIL REGARDING THE TIME OF CROP CALENDAR. THE MODERATE RESOLUTION IMAGING SPECTRORADIOMETER (MODIS) ON-BOARD TERRA AND AQUA SATELLITES HAS VISIBLE, NEAR INFRARED, SHORTWAVE INFRARED AS WELL AS THERMAL BANDS; AND THEREFORE, DIFFERENT vegetation indices CAN BE CALCULATED, INCLUDING NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE vegetation INDEX (NDVI) AND LAND SURFACE WATER INDEX (LSWI2105) WHICH IS SENSITIVE TO LEAF WATER AND SOIL MOISTURE. PREVIOUS RESEARCHES DEMONSTRATED THAT MODIS 8-DAYS SURFACE REFLECTANCE PRODUCT (MOD09A1), ENHANCED vegetation INDEX AND LSWI CAN BE USED TO MAP PADDY RICE FIELDS AND TO DISTINGUISH RICE FROM OTHER CROPS AT LARGE, CONTINENTAL SCALES DURING THE FLOODING AND RICE TRANSPLANTING STAGE. IN THIS STUDY, WE DEVELOPED A SPECIAL MAPPING ALGORITHM THAT USES NDVI AND LSWI2105 TIME SERIES DATA DERIVED FROM MODIS 16-DAYS 250 METER vegetation indices (MOD13Q1) PRODUCT OF MODIS IMAGERY TO IDENTIFY PADDY RICE FIELDS. THIS ALGORITHM WORKS BASED ON THE SENSITIVITY OF LSWI2105 TO THE SURFACE MOISTURE AND NDVI TO THE vegetation CHLOROPHYLL CONTENT. AS A RESULT, DURING THE PERIOD OF RICE TRANSPLANTING STAGE BECAUSE OF THE FIELD FLOODING, LSWI2105 WILL BE INCREASED AND AFTER THE RICE GROWING IT WILL BE DECREASED, AND AT THE SAME TIME NDVI HAS A REVERSE BEHAVIOR. IN THIS RESEARCH A METHOD HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO DEFINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NDVI AND LSWI2105 TO DETECT THE LOCATION OF PADDY RICE FIELDS IN NORTH PART OF IRAN IN 2011. OUR RESULTS WERE VALIDATED WITH GROUND FIELD WORKS DATA AT 183 WELL-DISTRIBUTED SAMPLE POINTS. THE OVERALL ACCURACY OF A METHOD IS 86.87%. THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY INDICATED THAT THE PADDY RICE MAPPING BASED ON MOD13Q1 COULD POTENTIALLY BE APPLIED AT MODERATE SPATIAL SCALES TO MONITOR PADDY RICE FIELDS ON A TIMELY BASIS.