MCD43D65: Daily Global Nadir-Adjusted Reflectance for MODIS Band 4 at 1km

MCD43D65 Version 6 is a NASA-produced daily global dataset of Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function and Albedo (BRDF/Albedo) Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) for MODIS band 4. It is generated from 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS observations at a 30 arc second (approximately 1,000 meter) resolution, weighted to represent the ninth day, and formatted as a Climate Modeling Grid (CMG). This product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023, with users directed to the Version 6.1 replacement.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface albedo for climate simulations based on the Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) format.
• Analyzing land surface radiative properties using nadir-adjusted reflectance to remove view angle effects.
• Assessing vegetation or surface changes over time using the daily, temporally-weighted reflectance product.
• Quality filtering for scientific applications using the band-specific quality flags described in the user guide.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage designed for climate simulation models.
• Daily temporal resolution produced from 16 days of MODIS Terra and Aqua satellite data.
• Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) algorithm corrects for view angle effects.

Limitations

• The dataset (Version 6) is decommissioned and contains known issues, particularly over arid bright surfaces, with users urged to use Version 6.1.
• Each product file contains just one data layer due to large file size.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

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

Time Range

Daily production, with data weighted to the ninth day of a 16-day period.

Freshness

Last updated metadata date is 2026-03-12, but the underlying Version 6 data product was decommissioned in July 2023.

Geography

Global coverage.