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The MCD43C1 Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters Product (MODIS/Terra BRDF/Albedo Parameters Daily L3 Global 0.05 Deg CMG) supplies the weighting parameters associated with the RossThickLiSparseReciprocal BRDF model that best describes the anisotropy of each pixel. These three parameters (fiso , fvol , fgeo) are provided for each of the MODIS spectral bands as well as for three broad bands (0.3-0.7µm, 0.7-5.0µm, and 0.3-5.0µm) at a 0.05 degree spatial resolution in global files in a geographic (lat/long) projection. These model parameters are based on the underlying 30 arcsecond model parameters. Note that along coastlines, this means that the 30 arcsecond pixels that lie over shallow water will be averaged into the 0.05 degree CMG pixel. In addition to the spectral and broadband parameters themselves, the MCD43C1 CMG BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters Product also provides extensive quality information. The quality and inversion status of the majority of the underlying 30 arcsecond pixels is provided as well as the percentage of the underlying pixels that were present or were snow covered. The uncertainty layer gives the quality of the full inversion from the measure of the angular sampling of input surface reflectance for the BRDF retrieval.

These parameters can be used in a forward version of the model to reconstruct the surface anisotropic effects and thus correct directional reflectances to a common view geometry (this is the procedure that is used to produce MCD43A4 Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectances - NBAR) or to compute the integrated black-sky (at some solar zenith angle) and white-sky albedos (as is done for MCD43A3). Alternately, the parameters can be used with a simple polynomial to easily estimate the black-sky albedo with good accuracy for any desired solar zenith angle [1], [2]. The polynomial is as follows:

The appropriate constants are:

Similarly, the white-sky albedo can be computed by using the equation:

and the estimates of the white-sky kernel integrals are:

Please note: We recommend that users use the MCD43D 30 arcsecond products (or the 30 arcsecond MCD43GF gapfilled products) instead of the MCD43C products as much as possible, since the MCD43C products merely represent averages of the direct BRDF retrievals obtained with the MCD43D processing. The averaged MCD43C products thus necessarily include various QA flags within each pixel, and are therefore less rigorously high quality than the MCD43D products.

References Cited

Schaaf, C. L. B., J. Liu, F. Gao and A. H. Strahler, MODIS Albedo and Reflectance Anisotropy Products from Aqua and Terra, In Land Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change: NASA's Earth Observing System and the Science of ASTER and MODIS, Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing Series, Vol.11, B. Ramachandran, C. Justice, M. Abrams, Eds, Springer-Cerlag, 873 pp.,2011.

Gao, F., C. Schaaf, A. Strahler, A. Roesch, W. Lucht, and R. Dickinson, The MODIS BRDF/Albedo Climate Modeling Grid Products and the Variability of Albedo for Major Global Vegetation Types, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D01104, doi:10.1029/2004JD00519, 2005.

Schaaf, C. B., F. Gao, A. H. Strahler, W. Lucht, X. Li, T. Tsang, N. C. Strugnell, X. Zhang, Y. Jin, J.-P. Muller, P. Lewis, M. Barnsley, P. Hobson, M. Disney, G. Roberts, M. Dunderdale, C. Doll, R. d'Entremont, B. Hu, S. Liang, and J. L. Privette, First Operational BRDF, Albedo and Nadir Reflectance Products from MODIS, Remote Sens. Environ., 83, 135-148, 2002.

Lucht, W., C.B. Schaaf, and A.H. Strahler. An Algorithm for the retrieval of albedo from space using semiempirical BRDF models, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 38, 977-998, 2000.

Science Data Sets

While the full MCD43C1 specification (V006 and V006.1) should be consulted for the most current description, the product includes four Science Data Sets (SDS) for each pixel in the tile. These SDSs are BRDF_Albedo_Parameter0, BRDF_Albedo_Parameter1, and BRDF_Albedo_Parameter2 representing the three model parameters fiso, fvol, fgeo for the RossThickLiSparseReciprocal BRDF model (each for bands 1-7 and three broad bands), and BRDF_Albedo_Quality.They are provided in global files in a geographic (lat/long) projection (3600 rows X 7200 columns (X 10 bands)).

Note that the V006 and V006.1 MODIS MCD43 products are retrieved daily and represent the best BRDF possible based on 16 days’ worth of inputs with the day of interest emphasized.  Unlike the earlier reprocessed versions (where the date of the product signifies the first day of the retrieval period), and the Direct Broadcast version (where the date signifies the last day of the retrieval period), the date associated with each daily V006 and V006.1 retrieval is the center of the moving 16 day input window. This change is in response to user requests.

Local Attributes

In addition to the actual SDS data values produced at each pixel in a tile, each SDS is associated with a number of standard Local Attributes that apply to the data. For the BRDF_Albedo_Parameter* SDSes they include:

For the BRDF_Albedo_Quality SDS, they include:

For the BRDF_Albedo_Quality SDS, they include:

Global Attributes (Metadata)

In addition to the albedo and quality information (SDSs and Local Attributes) that is provided at a per-cmg-pixel level, each Level 3 MCD43C1 CMG Albedo Product also Metadata which summarize the file. (See the full MCD43C1 specification (V006 and V006.1)  for the complete listing.)