Daily Global Albedo Measurements at 500-Meter Resolution

MODIS MCD43A3 Version 6 provides daily black-sky and white-sky albedo data for seven spectral bands and three broadbands. The dataset is generated daily from 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua satellite observations at a 500-meter resolution. This version was produced by LPCLOUD and decommissioned on July 31, 2023.

Use Cases

• Modeling land surface energy balance using black-sky albedo and white-sky albedo values for visible and shortwave bands.
• Tracking seasonal vegetation changes by analyzing time-series of near-infrared (NIR) band albedo.
• Assessing data quality for scientific applications by applying the band-specific quality flags provided with each albedo layer.
• Studying surface brightening or darkening trends over arid regions using the shortwave band albedo data.

Strengths

• Daily global coverage at 500-meter spatial resolution.
• Provides albedo data for 10 specific bands: MODIS bands 1-7 plus visible, NIR, and shortwave broadbands.
• Each data point is temporally weighted to represent the ninth day of a 16-day acquisition period.

Limitations

• This Version 6 product contains known errors, particularly over arid bright surfaces, due to issues in upstream surface reflectance data.
• The dataset is officially decommissioned, indicating it is not the current operational version.
• Essential quality information is stored in a separate companion file (MCD43A2), requiring users to merge datasets.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on the Terra and Aqua satellites.

Collection Method

Generated daily using a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model applied to 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS observations.

Time Range

Coverage spans the operational period of the MODIS instruments until the product's decommissioning.

Freshness

Daily production frequency, but this specific version's data feed ended with its decommissioning in July 2023.

Geography

Global land coverage.