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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: 2026-05-28

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
Sensitivity of coarse-scale snow-free land surface shortwave albedo to topography Hao, Dalei, Wen, Jianguang, Xiao, Qing, Lin, Xingwen, You, Dongqin, Tang, Yong, Liu, Qiang, Zhang, Sisi Albedo, Anisotropy, Reflectance, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps
Time series high-resolution land surface albedo estimation based on the ensemble Kalman filter algorithm Zhang, Guodong, Zhou, Hongmin, Wang, Changjing, Xue, Huazhu, Wang, Jindi, Wan, Huawei Albedo, Anisotropy
Persistent Hydrological Consequences of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico Miller, P. W., Kumar, A., Mote, T. L., Moraes, F. D. S., Mishra, D. R. Surface Pressure, Heat Flux, Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Surface Temperature, Humidity, Evapotranspiration, Surface Winds, Rain, Precipitation Rate, Snow, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Soil Temperature, Land Surface Temperature, Snow Water Equivalent, Runoff, Reflectance, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Albedo, Anisotropy
Persistent albedo reduction on southern Icelandic glaciers due to ashfall from the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption Moller, Rebecca, Dagsson-Waldhauserova, Pavla, Moller, Marco, Kukla, Peter A., Schneider, Christoph, Gudmundsson, Magnus T. Albedo, Anisotropy
Variations in surface albedo arising from flooding and desiccation cycles on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah Craft, Kevin M., Horel, John D. Reflectance, Anisotropy, Albedo
Rapid ablation zone expansion amplifies north Greenland mass loss Noel, Brice, van de Berg, Willem Jan, Lhermitte, Stef, van den Broeke, Michiel R. Albedo, Anisotropy
Recovering evapotranspiration trends from biased CMIP5 simulations and sensitivity to changing climate over North America Sullivan, Ryan C., Kotamarthi, V. Rao, Feng, Yan Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Albedo, Anisotropy
Detecting trends in wetland extent from MODIS derived soil moisture estimates Gumbricht, Thomas Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Albedo, Anisotropy
Novel Measurements of Fine-Scale Albedo: Using a Commercial Quadcopter Levy, Charlotte R., Burakowski, Elizabeth, Richardson, Andrew D. Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Albedo, Anisotropy
Influence of recent warming and ice dynamics on glacier surface elevations in the Canadian High Arctic, 19952014 MORTIMER, COLLEEN A., SHARP, MARTIN, VAN WYCHEN, WESLEY Albedo, Anisotropy, Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Ice Roughness, Terrain Elevation
Accuracy Assessment on MODIS (V006), GLASS and MuSyQ Land-Surface Albedo Wu, Xiaodan, Wen, Jianguang, Xiao, Qing, You, Dongqin, Dou, Baocheng, Lin, Xinwen, Hueni, Andreas Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Albedo, Anisotropy
An investigation of ice surface albedo and its influence on the high-altitude lakes of the Tibetan Plateau Lang, Jiahe, Lyu, Shihua, Li, Zhaoguo, Ma, Yaoming, Su, Dongsheng Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy
A multi-scale validation strategy for albedo products over rugged terrain and preliminary application in Heihe River Basin, China Lin, Xingwen, Wen, Jianguang, Liu, Qinhuo, Xiao, Qing, You, Dongqin, Wu, Shengbiao, Hao, Dalei, Wu, Xiaodan Albedo, Anisotropy
From remotely-sensed data of Norwegian boreal forests to fast and flexible models for estimating surface albedo Hu, Xiangping, Cherubini, Francesco, Vezhapparambu, Sajith, Strmman, Anders Hammer Albedo, Anisotropy
Spring warming in Yukon mountains is not amplified by the snow albedo feedback Williamson, Scott N., Anslow, Faron S., Clarke, Garry K. C., Gamon, John A., Jarosch, Alexander H., Hik, David S. Albedo, Anisotropy
Spatiotemporal variability of Canadian High Arctic glacier surface albedo from MODIS data, 20012016 Mortimer, Colleen A., Sharp, Martin Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Albedo, Anisotropy
Surface albedo and toc-r 300 m products from PROBA-V instrument in the framework of Copernicus Global Land Service Roujean, Jean-Louis, Leon-Tavares, Jonathan, Smets, Bruno, Claes, Patrick, Camacho De Coca, Fernando, Sanchez-Zapero, Jorge Albedo, Anisotropy
Surface forcing of non-stand-replacing fires in Siberian larch forests Chen, Dong, Loboda, Tatiana V Albedo, Anisotropy
Sensitivity of Glacier Runoff to Winter Snow Thickness Investigated for Schmidt, Louise Steffensen, Langen, Peter L., Aalgeirsdottir, Gufinna, Palsson, Finnur, Gumundsson, Sverrir, Gunnarsson, Andri Albedo, Anisotropy
Use of remote sensing indicators to assess effects of drought and human-induced land degradation on ecosystem health in Northeastern Brazil Mariano, Denis A., Santos, Carlos A.C. dos, Wardlow, Brian D., Anderson, Martha C., Schiltmeyer, Allie V., Tadesse, Tsegaye, Svoboda, Mark D. Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Albedo, Anisotropy
Towards Estimating Land Evaporation at Field Scales Using GLEAM Martens, Brecht, De Jeu, Richard A. M., Verhoest, Niko E. C., Schuurmans, Hanneke, Kleijer, Jonne, Miralles, Diego G. Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Albedo, Anisotropy
Evaluation of satellite remote sensing albedo retrievals over the ablation area of the southwestern Greenland ice sheet Moustafa, Samiah E., Rennermalm, Asa K., Roman, Miguel O., Wang, Zhuosen, Schaaf, Crystal B., Smith, Laurence C., Koenig, Lora S., Erb, Angela Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy
Evaluation of MODIS Albedo Product over Ice Caps in Iceland and Impact of Volcanic Eruptions on Their Albedo Gascoin, Simon, Gumundsson, Sverrir, Aalgeirsdottir, Gufinna, Palsson, Finnur, Schmidt, Louise, Berthier, Etienne, Bjornsson, Helgi Albedo, Anisotropy
Impact of MODIS sensor calibration updates on Greenland Ice Sheet surface reflectance and albedo trends Casey, Kimberly A., Polashenski, Chris M., Chen, Justin, Tedesco, Marco Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Albedo, Anisotropy
Albedo changes after fire as an explanation of fire-induced rainfall suppression Saha, Michael V., D'Odorico, Paolo, Scanlon, Todd M. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Albedo, Anisotropy
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