MCD43D53: Daily Global White-Sky Albedo for MODIS Band 2 at 1km Resolution

Daily global white-sky albedo data for MODIS band 2, produced using 16 days of Terra and Aqua satellite observations. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) produced this Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) product at 30 arc second (1,000 meter) resolution, with data temporally weighted to the ninth day of the 16-day period. This Version 6 product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023, with users encouraged to use the updated Version 6.1.

Use Cases

• Parameterizing land surface reflectance in climate models based on the white-sky albedo (bihemispherical reflectance) data.
• Analyzing temporal changes in surface albedo for MODIS band 2 using the daily, globally-complete Climate Modeling Grid.
• Isolating high-quality albedo retrievals for scientific applications using the band-specific quality flags described in the user guide.

Strengths

• Provides global coverage at a consistent 1,000-meter spatial resolution, suitable for climate-scale modeling.
• Data is produced daily using a 16-day observation window from two MODIS sensors (Terra and Aqua), improving observational coverage.
• The product is part of a structured suite (MCD43D42 through MCD43D61) covering multiple spectral bands and albedo types.

Limitations

• The dataset description notes known issues in Collection 6, particularly over arid bright surfaces, and advises users to avoid substantive use in favor of the corrected Collection 6.1.
• Each product file contains just one data layer due to large file size, which may complicate multi-band analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Produced daily from 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS satellite data, temporally weighted to the ninth day.

Time Range

Daily production; temporal coverage is not explicitly stated but is implied by the MODIS mission lifetime.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:38:36.409810; freshness should be verified as the underlying Version 6 product is decommissioned.

Geography

Global