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Description

The MCD43A3 Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MCD43A3 Version 6.1 data product.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MCD43A3 Version 6 Albedo Model 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 which is reflected in the Julian date in the file name.

The MCD43A3 provides black-sky albedo (directional hemispherical reflectance) and white-sky albedo (bihemispherical reflectance) data at local solar noon for MODIS bands 1 through 7 and the visible, near infrared (NIR), and shortwave bands. Along with the albedo layers are the simplified mandatory quality layers for each of the 10 bands. Essential quality information provided in the corresponding MCD43A2 data file should be consulted when using this product.

Users are also 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.

Known Issues

  • 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 MCD43A3 known issues refer to the MODIS Land Quality Assessment website.

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6 BRDF/Albedo Parameter data products: (1) Observations are weighted to estimate the BRDF/Albedo on the ninth day of the 16-day period, (2) Products utilize the snow status weighted to the ninth day, (3) Enhanced quality at high latitudes achieved through the utilization of all available observations during the acquisition period, (4) Products utilize L2G-lite surface reflectance as input, and (5) In instances where there are insufficient high-quality reflectances, a database containing archetypal BRDF parameters is employed to supplement the observational data and perform a lower-quality magnitude inversion.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra ,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Spatial Reference System(s)
MODIS Sinusoidal Tiling System
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-02-16 to 2023-02-17
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) ,
School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts, Boston (UMASS-B/SFE) ,
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
C2763289469-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Albedo ,
Anisotropy

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

Schaaf, C., & Wang, Z. (2015). MCD43A3 MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Daily L3 Global - 500m V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43A3.006 Date Accessed: 2026-05-27

File Naming Convention

MCD43A3.A2002272.h23v15.006.2016132202442.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD43A3) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2002272), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h23v15), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2016132202442), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Re-understanding of land surface albedo and related terms in satellite-based retrievals Shuai, Yanmin, Tuerhanjiang, Latipa, Shao, Congying, Gao, Feng, Zhou, Yuyu, Xie, Donghui, Liu, Tao, Liang, Ji, Chu, Nan Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance, Anisotropy, Albedo
Coupled estimation of 500 m and 8-day resolution global evapotranspiration and gross primary production in 20022017 Zhang, Yongqiang, Kong, Dongdong, Gan, Rong, Chiew, Francis H.S., McVicar, Tim R., Zhang, Qiang, Yang, Yuting Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Leaf Area Index (LAI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Latent Heat Flux, Surface Pressure, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Humidity, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff, Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy, Vegetation Productivity
Combining MODIS and national land resource products to model land cover-dependent surface albedo for Norway Bright, Ryan M., Astrup, Rasmus Albedo, Anisotropy, Reflectance
Detectability of CO2 emission plumes of cities and power plants with the Copernicus Anthropogenic CO2 Monitoring (CO2M) mission Kuhlmann, Gerrit, Broquet, Gregoire, Marshall, Julia, Clement, Valentin, Loscher, Armin, Meijer, Yasjka, Brunner, Dominik Albedo, Anisotropy, Clouds, Cloud Frequency, Cloud Height, Atmospheric Emitted Radiation, Emissivity, Optical Depth/Thickness, Radiative Flux, Reflectance, Transmittance, Cloud Condensation Nuclei, Cloud Droplet Concentration/Size, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Cloud Optical Depth/Thickness, Cloud Precipitable Water, Cloud Asymmetry, Cloud Ceiling, Cloud Top Pressure, Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Vertical Distribution, Cloud Emissivity, Cloud Radiative Forcing, Cloud Reflectance, Cloud Types
Developing land surface directional reflectance and albedo products from geostationary GOES-R and Himawari dataTheoretical basis, operational implementation, and validation He, Tao, Zhang, Yi, Liang, Shunlin, Yu, Yunyue, Wang, Dongdong Albedo, Anisotropy
Evaluating the spatial representativeness of the MODerate Resolution Image Spectroradiometer albedo product (MCD43) at ameriflux sites Zhou, Hongmin, Liang, Shunlin, He, Tao, Wang, Jindi, Bo, Yanchen, Wang, Dongdong Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Albedo, Anisotropy
Evaluation of ten machine learning methods for estimating terrestrial evapotranspiration from remote sensing Carter, Corinne, Liang, Shunlin Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Anisotropy, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Albedo
High-Resolution Global Contiguous SIF of OCO-2 Yu, L., Wen, J., Chang, C. Y., Frankenberg, C., Sun, Y. Albedo, Anisotropy
Direct comparison and triple collocationWhich is more reliable in the validation of coarse-scale satellite surface albedo products Wu, Xiaodan, Xiao, Qing, Wen, Jianguang, You, Dongqin Albedo, Anisotropy
Coefficients optimization of the GLASS broadband emissivity based on FTIR and MODIS data over the Taklimakan Desert Yalkun, Aynigar, Mamtimin, Ali, Liu, Suhong, Yang, Fan, He, Qing, Qi, Feifei, Liu, Yongqiang Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy, Reflectance
MOD-LSP, MODIS-based parameters for hydrologic modeling of North American land cover change Bohn, Theodore J., Vivoni, Enrique R. Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Leaf Characteristics, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Albedo, Anisotropy, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
An approach for downscaling SMAP soil moisture by combining Sentinel-1 SAR and MODIS data Bai, Jueying, Cui, Qian, Zhang, Wen, Meng, Lingkui Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Albedo, Anisotropy, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Leaf Characteristics, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), RADAR IMAGERY, Terrain Elevation, Topographical Relief Maps, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Reflectance
Accelerated Springtime Melt of Snow on Tundra Downwind from Northern Alaska River Systems Resulting from Niveo-aeolian Deposition Events De Boer, Gijs, Cox, Christopher J., Creamean, Jessie M. Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy
Exploration of machine learning techniques in emulating a coupled soil canopy atmosphere radiative transfer model for multi-parameter estimation from satellite observations Shi, Hanyu, Xiao, Zhiqiang, Tian, Xiaodan Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy, Shortwave Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Balancing prediction accuracy and generalization abilityA hybrid framework for modelling the annual dynamics of satellite-derived land surface temperatures Liu, Zihan, Zhan, Wenfeng, Lai, Jiameng, Hong, Falu, Quan, Jinling, Bechtel, Benjamin, Huang, Fan, Zou, Zhaoxu Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Albedo, Anisotropy
Basin scale rainfall-evapotranspiration dynamics in a tropical semiarid environment during dry and wet years Mutti, Pedro R., da Silva, Lindenberg L., Medeiros, Salomao de S., Dubreuil, Vincent, Mendes, Keila R., Marques, Thiago V., Lucio, Paulo S., Santos e Silva, Claudio M., Bezerra, Bergson G. Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Albedo, Anisotropy
Land surface temperature response to irrigated paddy field expansionA case study of semi-arid Western Jilin Province, China Liu, Tingxiang, Yu, Lingxue, Zhang, Shuwen Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy
Modelling the Arctic taiga-tundra ecotone using ALOS PALSAR and optical earth observation data Walther, Christian, Huttich, Christian, Urban, Marcel, Schmullius, Christiane Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy, Reflectance, Total Surface Water
Satellite data-driven modeling of field scale evapotranspiration in croplands using the MOD16 algorithm framework He, Mingzhu, Kimball, John S., Yi, Yonghong, Running, Steven W., Guan, Kaiyu, Moreno, Alvaro, Wu, Xiaocui, Maneta, Marco Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy
The impact of artificial wetland expansion on local temperature in the growing seasonThe case study of the Sanjiang Plain, China Yu, Lingxue, Liu, Tingxiang Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Albedo, Anisotropy
Temporal dynamics of albedo and climate in the sparse forests of Zagros Alibakhshi, Sara, Hovi, Aarne, Rautiainen, Miina Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy
Spatial Evaluation of Soil Moisture (SM), Land Surface Temperature Sun, Hao, Zhou, Baichi, Liu, Hongxing Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Albedo, Anisotropy
Seasonal dynamics of albedo across European boreal forestsAnalysis of MODIS albedo and structural metrics from airborne LiDAR Hovi, Aarne, Lindberg, Eva, Lang, Mait, Arumae, Tauri, Peuhkurinen, Jussi, Sirparanta, Sanna, Pyankov, Sergey, Rautiainen, Miina Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy
Retrieval of the fraction of radiation absorbed by photosynthetic components (FAPARgreen) for forest using a triple-source leaf-wood-soil layer approach Chen, Siyuan, Liu, Liangyun, Zhang, Xiao, Liu, Xinjie, Chen, Xidong, Qian, Xiaojin, Xu, Yue, Xie, Donghui Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Albedo, Anisotropy
Revisiting Pseudo Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS) over sand deserts for vicarious calibration of optical imagers at 20 km and 100 km scales Bacour, Cedric, Briottet, Xavier, Breon, Francois-Marie, Viallefont-Robinet, Francoise, Bouvet, Marc Albedo, Anisotropy
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