diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2ff919a9..240d5d83 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Added
 
-- Added ntasks-per-node
+- Added ntasks-per-node.
+- Added matlab reader for binary mwRTM vegopacity file.
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/GEOSldas_App/util/shared/matlab/read_vegopacity.m b/GEOSldas_App/util/shared/matlab/read_vegopacity.m
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7f09f96c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/GEOSldas_App/util/shared/matlab/read_vegopacity.m
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+
+function [ veg_opacity, N_tile, avg_period ] = read_vegopacity( fname, N_tile );
+
+% Reader for climatological mwRTM vegopacity file (little-endian, Fortran sequential binary).
+%
+% vegopacity files are created with the script
+%   GEOSldas_GridComp/GEOSldas_App/util/inputs/mwRTM_params/Create_vegopacity_8day_clim.m
+%
+% The format of the vegopacity file is compatible with MAPL_ReadForcing().  There are 96 Fortran
+%   records for 48 pairs of header/vegopacity entries, stored in a temporal wrap-around manner:
+%
+% record  1:   [FortranTag] header     [FortranTag]                      % last  record of year
+% record  2:   [FortranTag] vegopacity [FortranTag] 
+% record  3:   [FortranTag] header     [FortranTag]                      % first record of year
+% record  4:   [FortranTag] vegopacity [FortranTag]
+% ...
+% record 93:   [FortranTag] header     [FortranTag]                      % last  record of year
+% record 94:   [FortranTag] vegopacity [FortranTag] 
+% record 95:   [FortranTag] header     [FortranTag]                      % first record of year
+% record 96:   [FortranTag] vegopacity [FortranTag]
+%
+% header: [FortranTag] Year Month Day Hour Minute Second    ...     % start of 8-day avg period  (float)
+%                      Year Month Day Hour Minute Second    ...     % end   of 8-day avg period  (float)
+%                      N_data_vegopacity                    ...     % number of tiles            (float)
+%                      1                                    ...                                  (float)
+%         [FortranTag]
+%
+% The [FortranTag] is an integer that indicates how many bytes of data are stored in the
+%   corresponding Fortran sequential binary record.  Integers and reals are stored in
+%   simple (4-byte) precision. 
+%   Odd  ("header")     records: FortranTag = 14     * 4
+%   Even ("vegopactiy") records: FortranTag = N_tile * 4
+%
+% N_tile is *required* as input because some vegopacity files that were interpolated to cube-sphere
+%   have the wrong N_tile info in their header lines.
+%
+% - reichle, 29 Sep 2025
+%
+% ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+MAPL_UNDEF      = 1.e15;
+
+machfmt         = 'l';          % little-endian, GEOSldas
+
+int_precision   = 'int32';      % precision of fortran tag and integer data
+float_precision = 'float32';    % precision of real data 
+
+disp(['read_vegopacity.m: reading from ', fname])
+
+ifp = fopen( fname, 'r', machfmt );
+
+N_head = 14; 
+N_time = 48;
+
+for ii=1:N_time
+
+  disp(['reading avg period ', num2str(ii)])
+
+  % odd records ("header")
+
+  fortran_tag = fread( ifp,      1, int_precision   );  if fortran_tag~=N_head*4, error('wrong fortran_tag A'), end
+  
+  tmp         = fread( ifp, N_head, float_precision );
+  
+  fortran_tag = fread( ifp,      1, int_precision   );  if fortran_tag~=N_head*4, error('wrong fortran_tag B'), end
+
+  % populate avg_period
+  
+  avg_period(ii,:) = tmp(1:12);
+  
+  % verify N_tile
+
+  N_tile_tmp = tmp(13);
+  
+  if N_tile_tmp~=N_tile, disp(['WARNING: wrong N_tile in header lines: ', num2str(N_tile_tmp)]), end
+    
+
+  % even records ("vegopacity")
+  
+  fortran_tag = fread( ifp, 1,      int_precision   );  if fortran_tag~=N_tile*4, disp(['WARNING: wrong N_tile in vegopacity file ', num2str(fortran_tag/4)]), end
+  
+  tmp         = fread( ifp, N_tile, float_precision );
+
+  fortran_tag = fread( ifp, 1,      int_precision   );  if fortran_tag~=N_tile*4, disp(['WARNING: wrong N_tile in vegopacity file ', num2str(fortran_tag/4)]), end
+
+  % populate veg_opacity
+  
+  veg_opacity(ii,:) = tmp;
+
+end
+
+fclose(ifp);
+
+% change no-data-values to NaN
+
+veg_opacity( veg_opacity>MAPL_UNDEF*0.9999 ) = NaN;
+
+
+disp(['done reading ', fname])
+
+% =========== EOF ===========================================
+