Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/MCD43A2
MCD43A2·v061·dataset

Quality flags for surface reflectance data (Terra+Aqua, 500 m)

MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Quality Daily L3 Global - 500m V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. The quality and reliability information for the companion surface-reflectance and albedo products: how good each band's result is, how many valid views went into it, plus land-water type, snow flags and uncertainty.

How it's made. Produced daily at 500-meter resolution by combining 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS observations, then attaching quality details to the matching reflectance and albedo files.

How & where you'd use it. A guide that tells researchers which pixels in the surface-color and albedo products to trust. It is used alongside those products rather than as a standalone dataset.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCELAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ALBEDOLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ANISOTROPY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-16 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MODIS) · Aqua (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS2
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MCD43A2 Version 6.1 Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function and Albedo (BRDF/Albedo) Quality 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 retrieval period which is reflected in the Julian date in the file name. MCD43A2 contains the quality information for the corresponding [MCD43A3](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43A3.061) Albedo and [MCD43A4](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43A4.061) Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) products. 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](https://www.umb.edu/spectralmass/modis-user-guide-v006-and-v0061/mcd43a2-brdfalbedo-quality-product/). The MCD43A2 contains BRDF/Albedo band quality (inversion information) and days of valid observation within the 16-day period for MODIS bands 1 through 7 along with land water type, snow BRDF albedo, local solar noon, platform, and BRDF/Albedo uncertainty. Known Issues * For complete information about known issues please refer to the [MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue?sensor=MODIS&sat=TerraAqua&as=61).

Get the data

mcd43a2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MCD43A2",
    version="061",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LPCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.