MODIS Daily Land Surface Reflectance with Multi-Angle Atmospheric Correction

MCD19A1 Version 6.1 is a daily, global land surface reflectance dataset derived from combined Terra and Aqua MODIS observations. It provides 31 science data layers, including surface reflectance for 12 spectral bands at 500m and 1km resolutions, corrected for atmospheric gases and aerosols using the MAIAC algorithm. The data is produced by NASA's LPCLOUD and is distributed in HDF4 format.

Use Cases

• Monitoring vegetation health and land cover change using the surface reflectance values from bands 1-7.
• Analyzing surface albedo and radiative forcing by leveraging the RossThick/Li-Sparse volumetric and geometric kernel parameters.
• Assessing atmospheric aerosol impacts by comparing top-of-atmosphere and surface-level reflectance data.
• Conducting bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) studies using the provided solar zenith, view zenith, and relative azimuth angles.
• Performing data quality control and uncertainty analysis using the BRF uncertainty layers for bands 1-2 and the Quality Assessment (QA) bits.

Strengths

• Provides 31 distinct science data layers, including surface reflectance for 12 MODIS spectral bands.
• Employs the advanced MAIAC algorithm for atmospheric correction, which uses time-series analysis for improved accuracy.
• Offers data at two spatial resolutions (500m and 1km) for flexibility in analysis scale.
• Is produced daily, enabling high-temporal-resolution monitoring of land surface changes.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and total data volume are not provided by any source.
• The data structure includes a third dimension representing orbit overpasses, which can complicate band count and data handling.
• Sources conflict on license details, with one specifying 'other-license-specified' and others listing 'None'.

Provenance

Source

NASA LPCLOUD

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the MODIS instruments aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, processed with the MAIAC algorithm.

Time Range

Daily production; specific start date not provided.

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:21:43.470853

Geography

Global coverage on a sinusoidal (SIN) grid.