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Description

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MCD43A4 Version 6.1 Nadir Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) dataset is produced daily using 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS data at 500 meter (m) resolution. The view angle effects are removed from the directional reflectances, resulting in a stable and consistent NBAR product. Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day which is reflected in the Julian date in the file name.

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 MCD43A4 provides NBAR and simplified mandatory quality layers for MODIS bands 1 through 7. Essential quality information provided in the corresponding MCD43A2 data file should be consulted when using this product.

Known Issues

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6.1 BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters data products: (1) 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, and (2) A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB).

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra ,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Projects
TERRA ,
Aqua
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 Present
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
C2218719731-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
2956037
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Reflectance ,
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. (2021). MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Nadir BRDF Adjusted Ref Daily L3 Global - 500m V061 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43A4.061 Date Accessed: 2026-07-05

File Naming Convention

MCD43A4.A2025212.h04v10.061.2025221032559.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD43A4) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025212), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h04v10), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025221032559), 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 Topic
Comprehensive reassessment of Australia's land-surface phenology trends Burton, Chad.A., Rifai, Sami.W., Renzullo, Luigi.J., Van Dijk, Albert.I.J.M. Reflectance, Anisotropy
Coupling Remote Sensing With a Process Model for the Simulation of Xia, Yushu, Sanderman, Jonathan, Watts, Jennifer D., Machmuller, Megan B., Mullen, Andrew L., Rivard, Charlotte, Endsley, Arthur, Hernandez, Haydee, Kimball, John, Ewing, Stephanie A., Litvak, Marcy, Duman, Tomer, Krishnan, Praveena, Meyers, Tilden, Brunsell, Nathaniel A., Mohanty, Binayak, Liu, Heping, Gao, Zhongming, Chen, Jiquan, Abraha, Michael, Scott, Russell L., Flerchinger, Gerald N., Clark, Patrick E., Stoy, Paul C., Khan, Anam M., Brookshire, E. N. Jack, Zhang, Quan, Cook, David R., Thienelt, Thomas, Mitra, Bhaskar, MauritzTozer, Marguerite, Tweedie, Craig E., Torn, Margaret S., Billesbach, Dave Reflectance, Anisotropy, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Precipitation Amount, Maximum/Minimum Temperature, Shortwave Radiation, Snow Water Equivalent, Vapor Pressure
Crop water origins and hydroclimate vulnerability of global croplands Jiang, Yan, Burney, Jennifer A. Reflectance, Anisotropy, Vegetation Cover, Cropland
Ecosystem carbon use efficiency at global scale from upscaling eddy-covariance data with machine learning and MODIS products Campos-Taberner, M., Gilabert, M. A., Sanchez-Ruiz, S., Martinez, B., Jimenez-Guisado, A., Garcia-Haro, F. J. Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Reflectance, Anisotropy, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Productivity, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar)
Contrasting age-dependent leaf acclimation strategies drive vegetation greening across deciduous broadleaf forests in mid-to high latitudes Wang, Fangyi, Xue, Meimei, Zhou, Liming, Doughty, Christopher E., Ciais, Philippe, Reich, Peter B., Shang, Jiali, Chen, Jing Ming, Liu, Jane, Green, Julia K., Hao, Dalei, Tao, Shengli, Su, Yanjun, Liu, Lingli, Xia, Jianyang, Wang, Han, Yu, Kailiang, Zhu, Zaichun, Zhu, Peng, Li, Xing, Liu, Hui, Zeng, Yelu, Yan, Kai, Liu, Liyang, Lafortezza, Raffaele, Su, Yongxian, Meng, Yanqiong, Pan, Yixuan, Yang, Xueqin, Fu, Yongshuo H., He, Nianpeng, Yuan, Wenping, Chen, Xiuzhi Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Plant Phenology, Reflectance, Anisotropy
Detection of fast-changing intra-seasonal vegetation dynamics of drylands using solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) Wen, Jiaming, Tagliabue, Giulia, Rossini, Micol, Fava, Francesco Pietro, Panigada, Cinzia, Merbold, Lutz, Leitner, Sonja, Sun, Ying Longwave Radiation, Shortwave Radiation, Heat Flux, Liquid Precipitation, Snow/Ice, Geopotential Height, Altitude, Surface Temperature, Skin Temperature, Upper Air Temperature, Dew Point Temperature, Air Temperature, Cloud Top Temperature, Atmospheric Winds, Surface Winds, U/V Wind Components, Upper Level Winds, U/V Wind Components, Vertical Wind Velocity/Speed, Atmospheric Pressure, Sea Level Pressure, Cloud Top Pressure, Sea Level Pressure, Surface Pressure, Specific Humidity, Total Precipitable Water, Cloud Liquid Water/Ice, Atmospheric Water Vapor, Atmospheric Ozone, Oxygen Compounds, Boundary Layer Winds, Total Ozone, Reflectance, Anisotropy, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Solar Induced Fluorescence, Chlorophyll, Primary Production, Leaf Characteristics, Potential Vorticity, Vertical Profiles, Relative Humidity, Ozone Profiles
A Near-Real-Time Operational Live Fuel Moisture Content (LFMC) Product Benali, Akli, Baldassarre, Giuseppe, Loureiro, Carlos, Briquemont, Florian, Fernandes, Paulo M., Rossa, Carlos, Figueira, Rui Reflectance, Anisotropy
An enhanced phenology dataset for global drylands from 2001 to 2019 Dong, Yuqi, Zhou, Yu, Zhang, Li, Tian, Feng, Xie, Qiaoyun, Chen, Yiyang, Ruan, Linlin, Zhang, Bo Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance, Anisotropy, Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Vegetation Index, Plant Phenological Changes, Plant Characteristics, Vegetation Cover
Assessing the impact of landcover change on soil organic carbon stocks NunezHidalgo, Ignacio, Pfeiffer, Marco, Lira, Erick, Alaniz, Alberto J., Gaxiola, Aurora Reflectance, Anisotropy, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Total Surface Water
Baseline high-resolution maps of soil nutrients in Morocco to support sustainable agriculture Bouslihim, Yassine, Bouasria, Abdelkrim, Jelloul, Ahmed, Khiari, Lotfi, Dahhani, Sara, Mrabet, Rachid, Moussadek, Rachid Reflectance, Anisotropy
Climate rather than overgrazing explains most rangeland primary productivity change in Mongolia Purevjav, Avralt-Od, Avirmed, Tumenkhusel, Wilcox, Steven W., Barrett, Christopher B. Reflectance, Anisotropy
Estimating root zone soil moisture in farmland by integrating Bai, Xuqian, Fan, Shuailong, Li, Ruiqi, Dai, Tianjin, Li, Wangye, Ye, Sumeng, Qian, Long, Liu, Lu, Zhang, Zhitao, Chen, Haorui, Chen, Haiying, Xiang, Youzhen, Chen, Junying, Sun, Shikun Reflectance, Anisotropy, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Surface Soil Moisture
Estimating carbon fluxes over North America using a physics-constrained deep learning model Fan, Bin, Zhang, Hankui K., Li, Zhongbin B., Xiao, Jingfeng, Che, Xianghong, Liu, Zhihua, Camps-Valls, Gustau, Chen, Jing M. Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance, Anisotropy
Evaluation of spatial and temporal variability in Sentinel-2 surface Choi, Wonseok, Ryu, Youngryel, Kong, Juwon, Jeong, Sungchan, Lee, Kyungdo Reflectance, Anisotropy
Global phenology maps reveal the drivers and effects of seasonal asynchrony Terasaki Hart, Drew E., Bui, Thao-Nguyen, Di Maggio, Lauren, Wang, Ian J. Plant Phenology, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Reflectance, Anisotropy, Land Use/Land Cover Classification
Evaluating the predictability of SIF at multiple temporal scales for Zhou, Litao, Lin, Jingyu, Du, Ruohua, Yang, Rui, Bao, Jiayu, Yuan, Hao, Gao, Shichen, Chen, Pengzhou, Feng, Xinyao, Mao, Ting, Wu, Jianjun Reflectance, Anisotropy
The role of rivers in the origin and future of Amazonian biodiversity Ribas, Camila C., Sawakuchi, Andre O., de Almeida, Renato Paes, Pupim, Fabiano N., Rego, Marco A., Batista, Romina, Knowles, L. Lacey Reflectance, Anisotropy
Mapping the potential distribution of Asian elephants: Implications for conservation and humanelephant conflict mitigation in South and Southeast Asia Xu, Haixia, Jiang, Luguang, Liu, Ye Reflectance, Anisotropy, Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification
Influence of columnar versus vertical distribution of aerosol properties on the modulation of shortwave radiative effects Santhosh, V.N., Madhavan, B.L., Ratnam, M. Venkat, Naik, Dinesh N. Reflectance, Anisotropy
Impacts of extreme drought on rice planting calendar in Vietnamese Mekong Delta Diem, Phan Kieu, Diem, Nguyen Kieu, Nguyen, Can Trong, Minh, Vo Quang Reflectance, Anisotropy
Resistance of grassland productivity to drought and heatwave over a temperate semi-arid climate zone Huang, Yangbin, Lei, Huimin, Duan, Limin Reflectance, Anisotropy
Optimal Integration of Optical and SAR Data for Improving Alfalfa Yield Chen, Jiang, Yu, Tong, Cherney, Jerome H., Zhang, Zhou Reflectance, Anisotropy
Spatiotemporal variation of spring phenology and the corresponding scale Zhu, Chongjing, She, Xiaojun, Gao, Xiaojie, Huang, Yajun, Zeng, Yelu, Ding, Chao, Fu, Dongjie, Shao, Jing, Li, Yao Reflectance, Anisotropy, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Use/Land Cover Classification
Using phenology to unravel differential soil water use and productivity in a semiarid savanna Steiner, Blake, Scott, Russell L., Hu, Jia, MacBean, Natasha, Richardson, Andrew, Moore, David J. P. Reflectance, Anisotropy
Using automated machine learning for the upscaling of gross primary productivity Gaber, Max, Kang, Yanghui, Schurgers, Guy, Keenan, Trevor Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Leaf Characteristics, Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Reflectance, Anisotropy, Primary Production, Gross Primary Production (gpp)
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