Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/MCD43C4
MCD43C4·v061·dataset

True surface color, glare-corrected (Terra+Aqua, daily, 0.05 deg)

MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Ref Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. What the land surface actually looks like in true color across seven light bands, with the distortions removed so every place appears as if viewed straight down at noon. It also includes snow cover and quality information.

How it's made. Produced from the MODIS instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, combining 16 days of observations and correcting for viewing angle and sun glare to give clean daily reflectance values on a roughly 5.6 km grid.

How & where you'd use it. Mapping vegetation, snow and land surfaces for climate models, and providing a consistent color baseline for tracking how landscapes change over time.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ALBEDOLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ANISOTROPYLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCE

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) MCD43C4 Version 6.1 Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function and Albedo (BRDF/Albedo) Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) dataset is produced daily using 16 days of Terra and Aqua MODIS data in a 0.05 degree (5,600 meters at the equator) Climate Modeling Grid (CMG). Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day of the retrieval period which is reflected in the Julian date in the file name. This CMG product covers the entire globe for use in climate simulation models. 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/mcd43c4-cmg-nbar-product/). MCD43C4 removes view angle effects from directional reflectances to model the values as if they were collected from a nadir view at local solar noon. These NBAR values are calculated from [MCD43C1](https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43C1.061). The product includes separate NBAR layers for MODIS spectral bands 1 through 7 as well as ancillary layers for quality, local solar noon, percent finer resolution inputs, snow cover, and 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

mcd43c4_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MCD43C4",
    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.