MCD43D40: Daily Global Snow Status for BRDF/Albedo at 1km Resolution

MCD43D40 Version 6 was decommissioned on July 31, 2023, with users directed to Version 6.1. This daily dataset provides snow cover information for BRDF/Albedo products, produced using 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS data at 30 arc second (1,000 meter) resolution. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration created this Climate Modeling Grid product for global climate simulation models.

Use Cases

• Flagging snow-covered pixels for albedo retrieval based on the 'Snow Status' quality layer.
• Improving climate model inputs based on daily, globally gridded snow cover information.
• Assessing land surface radiative properties over time based on the temporally weighted ninth-day BRDF/Albedo estimation.
• Isolating high-quality full inversion results for science applications using the band-specific quality flags.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage at 30 arc second (approximately 1km) resolution.
• Daily temporal production using a 16-day observation window from two satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua).
• Improvements over previous versions include better high-latitude quality and use of L2G-lite surface reflectance as input.

Limitations

• The dataset is a decommissioned Version 6 product with known issues, particularly over arid bright surfaces; users are urged to use Version 6.1.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The large file size results in each project containing just one data layer.

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; data are temporally weighted to the ninth day of a 16-day period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:23:56.948370; freshness should be verified as the product version is decommissioned.

Geography

Global