African Continent Albedo Time Series from MODIS

2012 release from the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) provides continent-wide raster data on surface albedo. It contains time series averages, standard deviations, and variances for white sky and black sky albedo, derived from NASA's MODIS MCD43A3 product. The data has a 500-meter spatial resolution and a 16-day temporal resolution.

Use Cases

• Modeling land surface energy balance by analyzing white-sky and black-sky albedo time series averages.
• Assessing seasonal vegetation changes using the 16-day temporal resolution of albedo variance rasters.
• Mapping surface reflectance properties across Africa at a 500-meter spatial resolution.
• Calculating climate forcing parameters from time series standard deviation of albedo values.

Strengths

• Africa continent-wide spatial coverage.
• 500-meter spatial resolution.
• 16-day temporal resolution for time series analysis.
• Derived from the authoritative NASA MODIS MCD43A3 product.

Limitations

• Data release is from 2012 and may not reflect current conditions.
• Specific row/column counts and file sizes are unknown.
• Limited to albedo-derived metrics (average, standard deviation, variance).

Provenance

Source

NASA MODIS MCD43A3 product, processed by the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS).

Collection Method

Calculations (time series average, standard deviation, variance) performed on surface reflectance data obtained from the USGS LPDAAC Data Pool.

Freshness

Annually updated by AfSIS, but this specific release is from 2012.

Geography

Africa continent.