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Description

The MCD19A1 Version 6.1 data product is a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua combined Land Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Factor (BRF) gridded Level 2 product produced daily at 500 meter (m) and 1 kilometer (km) pixel resolutions. The MCD19A1 product is corrected for atmospheric gases and aerosols using a Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm that is based on a time series analysis and a combination of pixel- and image-based processing. The MODIS MAIAC Land Surface BRF products provide an estimate of the surface spectral reflectance as it would be measured at ground-level in the absence of atmospheric scattering or absorption.

The MCD19A1 MAIAC Surface Reflectance data product includes 31 Science Dataset (SDS) layers: surface reflectance for bands 1-12, BRF uncertainty for bands 1-2, Quality Assessment (QA) bits at 1 km, surface reflectance for bands 1-7 at 500 m, cosine of solar zenith angle, cosine of view zenith angle, relative azimuth angle, scattering angle, solar azimuth angle, view azimuth angle, glint angle, RossThick/Li-Sparse (RTLS) volumetric kernel, and RTLS geometric kernel at 5 km. A low-resolution browse image is also included showing surface reflectance band combination 1, 4, 3 created using a composite of all available orbits.

Each SDS layer within each MCD19A1 Hierarchical Data Format 4 (HDF4) file contains a third dimension that represents the number of orbit overpasses. This factor could affect the total number of bands for each SDS layer.

Known Issues

Improvements/Changes from Previous Versions

  • The Version 6.1 Level-1B (L1B) products have been improved by undergoing various calibration changes that include: changes to the response-versus-scan angle (RVS) approach that affects reflectance bands for Aqua and Terra MODIS, corrections to adjust for the optical crosstalk in Terra MODIS infrared (IR) bands, and corrections to the Terra MODIS forward look-up table (LUT) update for the period 2012 - 2017.
  • A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB).
  • The MCD19 Version 6.1 products have added 250 m resolution bands.
  • The previous BRDF product (MCD19A3) was reported once every eight days and the new MCD19A3D is a daily product.
  • MCD19A3D introduces gap-filled NDVI and gap-filled 250 m NBAR.
  • Snow Fraction, Snow Fit, and Snow Grain size layers were moved from MCD19A1 to the MCD19A3D.
  • There are four additional Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) products: MCD19A1CMGL, MCD19A1GO, MCD19A2CMG, and MCD19A3CMG.

Version Description

Collection Version 6.1 Processing and Reprocessing

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent
N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-02-24 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/MODAPS)
Concept ID
C2484086031-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
2G
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Reflectance

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Lyapustin, A., & Wang, Y. (2022). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Surface BRF Daily L2G Global 500m and 1km SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD19A1.061 Date Accessed: 2025-10-23

File Naming Convention

MCD19A1.A2025272.h00v10.061.2025273155842.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD19A1) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025272), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025273155842), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
Retrieval of UV-visible aerosol absorption using AERONET and OMI-MODIS synergy—Spatial and temporal variability across major aerosol environments Kayetha, V.
Improved 1-km-resolution hourly estimates of aerosol optical depth using conditional generative adversarial networks Zhang, L.
Spatial covariation between solar-induced fluorescence and vegetation indices from Arctic-Boreal landscapes Maguire, A. J.
Importance of the legacy effect for assessing spatiotemporal correspondence between interannual tree-ring width and remote sensing products in the Sierra Nevada Wong, C. Y. S.
Exploratory analysis of carbonaceous PM2.5 species in urban environments—Relationship with meteorological variables and satellite data Amarillo, A.
Small anomalies in dry-season greenness and chlorophyll fluorescence for Amazon moist tropical forests during El Niño and La Niña Doughty, R.
Adjustments to sif aid the interpretation of drought responses at the caatinga of Northeast Brazil Bontempo, E.
First provisional land surface reflectance product from geostationary satellite Himawari-8 AHI Li, S.
Changes in leaf functional traits of rainforest canopy trees associated with an El Nino event in Borneo Nunes, M. H.
SHOWING 9 OF 9

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
cosSZA Cosine of Solar zenith angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 10000 0.0001
cosVZA Cosine View zenith angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 10000 0.0001
Fg RTLS geometric kernel (5 km) N/A float32 -99999 -99999 to 100 N/A
Fv RTLS volumetric kernel (5 km) N/A float32 -99999 -99999 to 100 N/A
Glint_Angle Glint Angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 18000 0.01
RelAZ Relative azimuth angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 18000 0.01
SAZ Solar Azimuth Angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 18000 0.01
Scattering_Angle Scattering Angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 18000 0.01
Sigma_BRFn1 BRFn uncertainty over time, for band 1 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sigma_BRFn2 BRFn uncertainty over time, for band 2 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Status_QA QA bits (1 km) N/A uint16 0 0 to 65535 N/A
Sur_ref2 Surface reflectance for band 2 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref3 Surface reflectance for band 3 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref4 Surface reflectance for band 4 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref5 Surface reflectance for band 5 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref6 Surface reflectance for band 6 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref7 Surface reflectance for band 7 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref8 Surface reflectance for band 8 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref9 Surface reflectance for band 9 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref10 Surface reflectance for band 10 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref11 Surface reflectance for band 11 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_ref12 Surface reflectance for band 12 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl1 Surface reflectance for band 1 (1 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl_500m1 Surface reflectance 500 m for band 1 (500 m) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl_500m2 Surface reflectance 500 m for band 2 (500 m) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl_500m3 Surface reflectance 500 m for band 3 (500 m) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl_500m4 Surface reflectance 500 m for band 4 (500 m) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl_500m5 Surface reflectance 500 m for band 5 (500 m) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl_500m6 Surface reflectance 500 m for band 6 (500 m) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
Sur_refl_500m7 Surface reflectance 500 m for band 7 (500 m) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 16000 0.0001
VAZ View Azimuth Angle (5 km) N/A int16 -28672 -28672 to 18000 0.01
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