MCD43D50: Daily Global Near-Infrared Black-Sky Albedo at 1km Resolution

MCD43D50 Version 6 is a daily, global dataset of black-sky albedo (directional hemispherical reflectance) for the near-infrared broadband, produced by NASA using 16 days of MODIS data from the Terra and Aqua satellites. Data are provided at a 30 arc second (approximately 1,000 meter) resolution on a Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) and are temporally weighted to represent the ninth day of the 16-day period. This version was decommissioned on July 31, 2023, with users directed to the updated Version 6.1 product.

Use Cases

• Incorporating near-infrared surface reflectance into climate simulation models based on the Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) format.
• Analyzing daily land surface properties and energy balance using the black-sky albedo (directional hemispherical reflectance) metric.
• Assessing albedo dynamics over bright, arid surfaces, though with caution due to known aerosol representation issues in Version 6.
• Isolating high-quality data for science applications using the band-specific quality flags described in the user guide.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage on a Climate Modeling Grid designed for climate models.
• Daily temporal production using a 16-day observation window weighted to a central date.
• Data are derived from two satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua MODIS), likely increasing observational coverage.

Limitations

• This Version 6 product has known issues, particularly regarding aerosol representation over bright surfaces, and has been officially decommissioned.
• The description notes each product file contains just one data layer due to large file size, which may complicate multi-band analysis.
• Column-level documentation and sample data are unavailable, making field semantics and structure uncertain before download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

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

Time Range

Daily coverage, temporally weighted to the ninth day of a 16-day period.

Freshness

The dataset version is deprecated; the last metadata update date (2026-03-12) does not reflect data currency.

Geography

Global