Abstract: Based on the MODIS observations, the performance of Interactive Canopy Model(ICM), a dynamic vegetation model including the carbon and nitrogen cycles of the terrestrial ecosystem, has been assessed. The Leaf Area Index (LAI), a key parameter with seasonal variation in vegetation dynamics, is simulated by ICM and compared with the MODIS data. The results show that ICM can simulate the main characteristics of the seasonal LAI fluctuations. Compared to the observation, LAI is overestimated in high and low latitudes, but underestimated in middle latitudes by the model. The underestimation of the LAI in middle latitudes is followed by the vegetation sprout for the reason that the modeled growth is always slower than the observed one. The bimodal distributions for the tropical evergreen broadleaf trees and crops have not been well captured. In addition, the simulated results for the grassland are more reasonable than other Plant Function Types (PFTs). The results will provide important clues for the parameterization improvement and parameters optimization of the ICM.