MODIS Daily BRDF Albedo Quality Flags at 500m Resolution

Global daily quality information for MODIS BRDF and albedo products at 500-meter spatial resolution. The dataset is produced by NASA's LPCLOUD using 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua satellite data, temporally weighted to the ninth day. This Version 6 product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023.

Use Cases

• Filtering MCD43A3 albedo data using the BRDF/Albedo band quality flags for bands 1-7 to isolate highest quality full inversion results.
• Assessing temporal data coverage for a pixel by analyzing the days of valid observation within the 16-day period for each spectral band.
• Masking out low-quality data over specific land cover types by combining the land water type and snow BRDF albedo flags.
• Evaluating retrieval uncertainty in downstream models by incorporating the BRDF/Albedo uncertainty layer.
• Identifying observation conditions for a given date using the local solar noon and platform (Terra/Aqua) information.

Strengths

• Daily global coverage at 500-meter resolution.
• Provides quality flags for 7 MODIS spectral bands (1-7).
• Integrates data from two satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua) over a 16-day retrieval window.

Limitations

• Version 6 contains known metadata errors in the HDF file for BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_Band1-7 layers, stating incorrect valid range and scaling.
• The product is officially decommissioned, with users directed to use the corrected Version 6.1.
• Potential impact from uncorrected aerosol representation issues in Collection 6 over arid bright surfaces.

Provenance

Source

NASA LPCLOUD, derived from MODIS instruments on Terra and Aqua satellites.

Collection Method

Produced daily using a temporally weighted algorithm applied to 16 days of MODIS surface reflectance data.

Time Range

Daily from the MODIS mission start until the version's decommissioning on July 31, 2023.

Freshness

Daily update frequency, but this specific version is deprecated.

Geography

Global land surface.