MCD43A1: Daily BRDF Model Parameters for Land Surface Reflectance

MCD43A1 Version 6.1 provides three model weighting parameters (isotropic, volumetric, geometric) at 500-meter resolution, derived from 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua MODIS observations. This daily product is the foundational dataset for generating albedo and nadir BRDF-adjusted reflectance maps across 10 spectral bands, including visible, near-infrared, and shortwave. Users must consult the separate MCD43A2 quality file and band-specific quality flags to isolate the highest quality full inversion results for their applications.

Use Cases

• Deriving surface albedo maps based on the provided isotropic, volumetric, and geometric model parameters.
• Calculating Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) for consistent multi-temporal analysis of land cover.
• Assessing land surface anisotropy and reflectance properties for climate and energy balance studies.
• Filtering data quality for scientific applications using the band-specific quality flags and mandatory quality layers.

Strengths

• Provides a daily, global product at a consistent 500-meter spatial resolution.
• Integrates data from two satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua MODIS) over a 16-day retrieval window, improving observational coverage.
• Version 6.1 includes specific calibration improvements, such as corrections for optical crosstalk and updates to the response-versus-scan angle approach.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided on any platform.
• Conflicting license information exists between sources ('other-license-specified' on Data.gov vs. 'CC-BY-4.0' on AWS Open Data).
• Data is temporally composited and weighted to the ninth day of a 16-day period, which may not represent instantaneous conditions.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Produced daily from calibrated Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument data.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:54:55.836320

Geography

Global