MCD43D55: MODIS White-Sky Albedo for Band 4, Daily Global 1km

MCD43D55 Version 6.1 is a daily global white-sky albedo dataset for MODIS spectral band 4. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration produces it from 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua satellite observations at a 30 arc second (1,000 meter) resolution. Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day of the 16-day period and formatted for Climate Modeling Grids.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface energy balance in climate simulations based on the white-sky albedo parameter.
• Analyzing land surface radiative properties over time using the daily, globally gridded product.
• Assessing albedo quality for scientific applications using the band-specific quality flags mentioned in the user guide.

Strengths

• Daily production using 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua MODIS data for temporal stability.
• Global coverage at 30 arc second (1,000 meter) resolution suitable for climate-scale modeling.
• Version 6.1 includes specific calibration improvements for reflectance bands and polarization correction.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

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

Time Range

Daily coverage, temporally weighted to the ninth day of a 16-day composite period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:23:20.643214; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global