Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/MCD43D68
MCD43D68·v061·dataset

How much sunlight the land reflects, shortwave-infrared (Terra+Aqua, daily)

MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Ref Band7 Daily L3 Global 30ArcSec CMG V061
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS2
In plain English

What it measures. Shows how much sunlight the land reflects in MODIS's shortwave-infrared band, adjusted as if always viewed straight down at local noon so daily images compare fairly.

How it's made. Produced daily from 16 days of combined Terra and Aqua MODIS data at about 1 km resolution, with this file holding the view-corrected reflectance for one band.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for tracking land surface and vegetation conditions consistently over time; the view-angle correction makes day-to-day and place-to-place comparisons more reliable.

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 MCD43D68 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 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data at 30 arc second (1,000 meter (m)) resolution. Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day which is reflected in the Julian date in the file name. This Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) product covers the entire globe for use in climate simulation models. Due to the large file size, each MCD43D product contains just one data layer. MCD43D62 through MCD43D68 are the NBAR products of the MCD43D BRDF/Albedo product suite for MODIS bands 1 through 7. The NBAR algorithm removes view angle effects from directional reflectances to model the values as if they were collected from a nadir view at local solar noon. 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/mcd43d-cmg-30-arc-second-products/). MCD43D68 is the NBAR for MODIS band 7. 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

mcd43d68_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MCD43D68",
    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.