The MCD43A2 Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MCD43A2 Version 6.1 data product.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MCD43A2 Version 6 Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function and Albedo (BRDF/Albedo) Quality dataset is produced daily using 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS data at 500 meter (m) resolution. Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day of the 16-day retrieval period which is reflected in the Julian date in the file name. MCD43A2 contains the quality information for the corresponding MCD43A3 Albedo and MCD43A4 Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) products.

Users are urged to use the band specific quality flags to isolate the highest quality full inversion results for their own science applications as described in the User Guide.

The MCD43A2 contains BRDF/Albedo band quality (inversion information) and days of valid observation within the 16-day period for MODIS bands 1 through 7 along with land water type, snow BRDF albedo, local solar noon, platform, and BRDF/Albedo uncertainty.

Known Issues

• The metadata information within the HDF file of the Version 6 MCD43A2 gives incorrect SDS layer parameters for
  BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_Band1 through 7. The metadata states that the Valid Range is 0 to 32767 with a scaling factor of 0.001, which is incorrect. The Data Layers Characteristics section of this product page is accurate, the correct Valid Range is 0 to 65535 with no scaling factor.
• The incorrect representation of the aerosol quantities (low average high) in the C6 MYD09 and MOD09 surface reflectance products may have impacted downstream products particularly over arid bright surfaces. This (and a few other issues) have been corrected for C6.1. Therefore users should avoid substantive use of the C6 MCD43 products and wait for the C6.1 products. In any event, users are always strongly encouraged to download and use the extensive QA data provided in MCD43A2, in addition to the briefer mandatory QAs provided as part of the MCD43A1, 3, and 4 products.
• Corrections were implemented in Collection 6.1 reprocessing.
• For complete information about the MCD43A2 known issues refer to the MODIS Land Quality Assessment website.

Improvements/Changes from Previous Version

• Observations are weighted to estimate the BRDF/Albedo on the ninth day of the 16-day period.
• MCD43 products use the snow status weighted to the ninth day instead of the majority snow/no-snow observations from the 16-day period.
• Better quality at high latitudes from use of all available observations for the acquisition period. Collection 5 used only four observations per day.
• The MCD43 products use L2G-lite surface reflectance as input.
• When there are insufficient high quality reflectances, a database with archetypal BRDF parameters is used to supplement the observational data and perform a lower quality magnitude inversion. This database is continually updated with the latest full inversion retrieval for each pixel.