MODIS Aqua Surface Reflectance 8-Day Global 500m Grid

MODIS/Aqua MYD09A1 Version 6.1 provides atmospherically corrected surface spectral reflectance for seven bands at a 500-meter resolution. The data is produced as an 8-day composite, selecting the best pixel per period based on cloud and solar zenith criteria. This NASA LPCLOUD product, last updated in March 2026, represents a calibrated global land surface dataset.

Use Cases

• Monitoring vegetation health and land cover change using the seven spectral reflectance bands.
• Assessing atmospheric aerosol impacts by analyzing corrected surface reflectance values.
• Studying surface albedo and energy budget with quality-controlled, 8-day composite data.
• Identifying cloud-contaminated pixels using the included quality assurance layer.
• Investigating sensor performance anomalies, specifically for Band 6, using documented non-functional detector flags.

Strengths

• Data is corrected for atmospheric gases, aerosols, and Rayleigh scattering, providing a clearer surface signal.
• Version 6.1 incorporates calibration improvements including response-versus-scan angle and polarization corrections.
• Pixel selection for the 8-day composite uses criteria including cloud cover and solar zenith to optimize data quality.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and widespread use in the scientific community.

Limitations

• Band 6 has known performance issues with a majority of detectors being non-functional, requiring user intervention.
• Sources provide no concrete information on dataset size, row count, or specific temporal coverage range.
• License information is inconsistently reported, listed as 'other-license-specified' on some platforms and null on others.

Provenance

Source

NASA LPCLOUD, from the Aqua satellite's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing with atmospheric correction and 8-day composite pixel selection based on cloud and solar zenith.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:20:19.054933

Geography

Global coverage using the sinusoidal (SIN) grid projection.