ISLSCP II MODIS Albedo: 2002 Land Surface Reflectance

ISLSCP II MODIS (Collection 4) Albedo 2002 provides global albedo data for the full year of 2002. The dataset, produced by NASA, contains both white-sky and black-sky albedo measures derived from the MODIS BRDF product (MOD43B), available every 16 days for 7 spectral and 3 broadbands. These measures can be linearly combined to model actual albedo at local solar noon for climate and surface energy balance studies.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface energy balance based on spectral and broadband albedo values.
• Analyzing seasonal land surface changes using the 16-day temporal resolution data.
• Validating climate models with spatially distributed white-sky and black-sky albedo measures.
• Studying radiative properties of different land cover types across the 7 spectral bands.

Strengths

• Provides full-year coverage for 2002, enabling annual cycle analysis.
• Contains data for 7 spectral bands and 3 broadbands, offering spectral detail.
• Features a consistent 16-day temporal resolution for tracking seasonal changes.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and exact file sizes are unknown across all sources.
• Conflicting last-updated dates exist: one source lists 2002-12-31, others list 2026-04-10, suggesting potential metadata errors.
• License is ambiguously specified as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the MODIS instrument and the MOD43B BRDF/albedo product.

Time Range

January 2002 through December 2002

Freshness

2026-04-10 01:55:41.392255

Geography

Global