MODIS Terra Global Surface Reflectance 8-Day Composite

Global MODIS/Terra Surface Reflectance 8-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V006 data provides atmospherically corrected surface spectral reflectance for seven 500m bands. The dataset is an 8-day composite product where pixel selection criteria include cloud cover and solar zenith angle. This version 6 product was decommissioned in July 2023 by NASA, with users directed to the updated Version 6.1.

Use Cases

• Monitoring vegetation health and calculating indices like NDVI using the seven surface reflectance bands.
• Analyzing land surface change over time by leveraging the 8-day composite temporal resolution and quality layers.
• Studying aerosol impacts and surface brightness interactions using the documented quality flags and corrections.
• Providing corrected reflectance inputs for downstream products like MODIS BRDF/Albedo (MCD43) and Vegetation Index (MOD13/MYD13) data.

Strengths

• Provides surface reflectance corrected for atmospheric gases, aerosols, and Rayleigh scattering across seven spectral bands.
• Offers a consistent 8-day composite global coverage at 500-meter resolution since the Terra satellite's operation.
• Includes documented quality layers and observation bands to assist with pixel reliability assessment.
• Managed and updated by NASA, with a detailed record of known issues and version improvements publicly available.

Limitations

• The dataset description explicitly states this Version 6 product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023, directing users to a newer version.
• Known issues include sensor striping in bands 5-7 for early 2000 data and potential incorrect high aerosol flagging in Collection 6.
• Sources provide no concrete row count, column names, or precise temporal coverage, limiting granular metadata.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite observations from the MODIS instrument aboard the Terra satellite, processed into 8-day composite global grids.

Time Range

From Terra satellite launch (circa 2000) to product decommissioning in July 2023.

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:09:50.515537

Geography

Global coverage using the Sinusoidal (SIN) grid projection.