MCD43D45: MODIS Black-Sky Albedo for Band 4, Daily Global 1km

MCD43D45 Version 6.1 is a daily global dataset of black-sky albedo for MODIS spectral band 4. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration produces it at 30 arc second (1,000 meter) resolution using 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua satellite data. Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day and are provided on a Climate Modeling Grid for use in climate simulation models.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface energy balance in climate simulations based on the black-sky albedo parameter.
• Analyzing land surface changes over time based on daily, 1km resolution global coverage.
• Assessing the quality of albedo retrievals for scientific applications based on the band-specific quality flags mentioned in the user guide.
• Studying the directional reflectance of vegetation and soils based on the solar zenith angle-dependent black-sky albedo.

Strengths

• Produced daily with a 16-day data composite, offering regular temporal coverage.
• Global coverage at 1,000-meter resolution on a Climate Modeling Grid.
• Version 6.1 incorporates specific calibration improvements, including polarization correction and RVS changes.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Each product file contains just one data layer, which may complicate multi-band analysis.
• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Produced daily using 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS data.

Time Range

Daily production; temporal weighting to the ninth day of the composite.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:48:18.844064; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global