MCD43D46: Daily Global Black-Sky Albedo for MODIS Band 5 at 1km Resolution

MCD43D46 Version 6.1 provides daily black-sky albedo measurements for MODIS spectral band 5, processed from 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua satellite observations. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration produces this Climate Modeling Grid product at a 30 arc second (approximately 1,000 meter) resolution, covering the entire globe. Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day of the 16-day acquisition period.

Use Cases

• Calibrating and validating land surface models based on daily, high-resolution black-sky albedo data.
• Analyzing seasonal and interannual changes in surface reflectance properties for climate studies.
• Incorporating directional hemispherical reflectance into radiative transfer calculations for specific solar zenith angles.
• Isolating highest quality data for scientific applications using the band-specific quality flags described in the user guide.

Strengths

• Daily global coverage at 30 arc second (1km) resolution, suitable for climate-scale analysis.
• Version 6.1 incorporates specific calibration improvements, including RVS approach changes and polarization correction for reflective solar bands.
• Product is part of a defined suite (MCD43D42 through MCD43D61) providing both black-sky and white-sky albedo across multiple MODIS bands.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Each large file contains just one data layer, which may complicate multi-band analysis workflows.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Produced daily using 16 days of Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data.

Time Range

Daily production; temporal weighting is applied to the ninth day of the 16-day input period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:48:35.311918; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage.