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Description

The Daily Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function and Albedo (BRDF/Albedo) 30 arc second, Global Gap-Filled, Snow-Free, (MCD43GF) Version 6.1 is derived from the 30 arc second Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) MCD43D Version 6.1 product suite, with additional processing to provide a gap-filled, snow-free product. The highest quality full inversion values were used for the temporal fitting effort and supplemented with lower quality pixels, spatial fitting, and spatial smoothing as needed. The status of each pixel can be found in the quality layer for each band. To generate a snow-free product, pixels with ephemeral snow were removed using the MCD43D41 snow flags. The underlying MCD43D utilizes a BRDF model derived from all available high quality cloud clear reflectance data over a 16 day moving window centered on and emphasizing the daily day of interest (the ninth day of each retrieval period as reflected in the Julian date in the filename). This 30 arc second BRDF model is then used to produce the Albedo and NBAR products (MCD43D). These BRDF model parameters are computed for MODIS spectral bands 1 through 7 (0.47 um, 0.55 um, 0.67 um, 0.86 um, 1.24 um, 1.64 um, 2.1 um), as well as the shortwave infrared band (0.3-5.0 um), visible band (0.3-0.7 um), and near-infrared (0.7-5.0 um) broad bands.

The MCD43GF product includes 67 layers containing black-sky albedo (BSA) at local solar noon, isotropic model parameter (ISO), volumetric model parameter (VOL), geometric model parameter (GEO), quality (QA), Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) at local solar noon, and white-sky albedo (WSA). Due to the large file size, each data layer is distributed as a separate HDF file. Users are encouraged to download the quality layers for each of the 10 bands to check quality assessment information before using the BRDF/Albedo data.

The MCD43 product is not recommended for solar zenith angles beyond 70 degrees.

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.

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).
  • In Version 6.1 reprocessing, the QA values for the MCD43GF product will change to reflect the band 5 and 6 dead detector issues.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent
N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
1000 Meters x 1000 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2000-03-03 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, Biospheric Information Systems Branch, Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/HBSL/BISB/MODAPS)
Concept ID
C3216719281-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Albedo,
Anisotropy,
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

Schaaf, C. (2024). MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Gap-Filled Snow-Free Daily L3 Global 30ArcSec CMG V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43GF.061 Date Accessed: 2025-09-04

Data Center Citation

Crystal Schaaf. 2024. MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Gap-Filled Snow-Free Daily L3 Global 30ArcSec CMG V061. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA: NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43GF.061.

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Title Year Author
Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Aura nitrogen dioxide standard product version 4.0 with improved surface and cloud treatments N. Lamsal, L.
Contribution of changes in snow cover extent to shortwave radiation perturbations at the top of the atmosphere over the northern hemisphere during 2000–2019 Chen, X.
Toward operational validation systems for global satellite-based terrestrial essential climate variables Bayat, B.
Investigating impacts of drought and disturbance on evapotranspiration over a forested landscape in North Carolina, USA using high spatiotemporal resolution remotely sensed data Yang, Y.
Differences in snow-induced radiative forcing estimated from satellite and reanalysis surface albedo datasets over the Northern Hemisphere landmass for the overlapping period of 1982–2012 Xiaona, C.
A geometry-dependent surface Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity product for UV-Vis retrievals - Part 1—Evaluation over land surfaces using measurements from OMI at 466 nm Qin, W.
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