MODIS Vegetation and Albedo Parameters for North America

North America's continental US, southern Canada, and Mexico are covered by this dataset of MODIS-derived land surface parameters at 30 km resolution. It provides leaf area index (LAI), stem area index (SAI), vegetation fraction, dominant landcover, and albedo for the period 2003-2010, developed by ORNL_CLOUD for agroecosystem-climate modeling. The data is synthesized from MODIS Collection 5 products including MCD12Q1, MCD15A2, and MCD43B1.

Use Cases

• Calibrating regional agroecosystem-climate models with surface parameters like leaf area index and albedo.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in vegetation cover and land surface properties from 2003 to 2010.
• Validating newer satellite-derived land cover or vegetation products against this MODIS Collection 5 baseline.
• Studying the relationship between landcover category and surface radiative properties (albedo) at a continental scale.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a consistent, multi-year satellite record (MODIS Collection 5) from 2003-2010.
• Provides a synthesized set of key biophysical parameters (LAI, SAI, albedo, landcover) for a large geographic region.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its established use in the scientific community.

Limitations

• The MODIS Version 5 products used are superseded by improved Version 6 data, potentially affecting accuracy.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 2010-12-31 and another listing 2026-03 12, creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD, using MODIS Collection 5 products (MCD12Q1, MCD15A2, MCD43B1, etc.).

Collection Method

Derived from Terra and Aqua satellite MODIS products, including yearly land-cover, 8-day LAI composites, and albedo parameters.

Time Range

2003-2010

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:54:12.588849

Geography

Continental US (CONUS), parts of southern Canada, and Mexico.