Global Daily Shortwave Black-Sky Albedo from MODIS

Black-sky albedo for the MODIS shortwave broadband is produced daily at 30 arc-second resolution. The dataset uses 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS data, temporally weighted to the ninth day, and is designed for climate simulation models. It is part of the MCD43D BRDF/Albedo product suite maintained by LPCLOUD.

Use Cases

• Model surface energy balance in climate simulations using daily shortwave black-sky albedo values.
• Analyze temporal trends in surface reflectance by utilizing the daily temporal weighting and 16-day data window.
• Assess albedo quality for specific science applications by applying the band-specific quality flags described in the user guide.
• Compare black-sky albedo (directional hemispherical reflectance) with white-sky albedo across the 10 available spectral bands.

Strengths

• Daily temporal resolution with data weighted to a central ninth day.
• Global spatial coverage at 30 arc-second (approximately 1 km) resolution.
• Product suite includes 10 black-sky and 10 white-sky albedo layers for multiple spectral bands.

Limitations

• Each product file contains just one data layer, requiring multiple files for multi-band analysis.
• Quality depends on the full inversion results, requiring users to apply quality flags as per the guide.
• Known issues exist and must be reviewed via the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

Provenance

Source

LPCLOUD using Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data.

Collection Method

Produced daily using 16 days of MODIS data and a temporal weighting algorithm.

Freshness

Daily

Geography

Global