The MODIS (collection V006) BRDF/albedo product MCD43D: Temporal course evaluated over agricultural landscape

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The assessment of uncertainties in satellite-derived global surface albedo products is a critical aspect for studying the climate, ecosystem change, hydrology or the Earth's radiant energy budget. However, it is challenged by the spatial scaling errors between satellite and field measurements. This study aims at evaluating the forthcoming MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (Collection V006) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)/albedo product MCD43D over a Mediterranean agricultural area. Here, we present the results from the accuracy assessment of the MODIS blue-sky albedo. The analysis is based on collocated comparisons with higher spatial resolution estimates from Formosat-2 that were first evaluated against local in situ measurements. The inter-sensor comparison is achieved by taking into account the effective point spread function (PSF) for MODIS albedo, modeled as Gaussian functions in the North–South and East–West directions. The equivalent PSF is estimated by correlation analysis between MODIS albedo and Formosat-2 convolved albedo. Results show that it is 1.2 to 2.0 times larger in the East–West direction as compared to the North–South direction. We characterized the equivalent PSF by a full width at half maximum size of 1920 m in East–West, 1200 m in North–South. This provided a very good correlation between the products, showing absolute (relative) Root Mean Square Errors from 0.004 to 0.013 (2% to 7%), and almost no bias. By inspecting 1-km plots homogeneous in land cover type, we found poorer performances over rice and marshes (i.e., relative Root Mean Square Error of about 11% and 7%, and accuracy of 0.011 and − 0.008, respectively), and higher accuracy over dry and irrigated pastures, as well as orchards (i.e., relative uncertainty < 3.8% and accuracy < 0.003). The study demonstrates that neglecting the MODIS PSF when comparing the Formosat-2 albedo against the MODIS one induces an additional uncertainty up to 0.02 (10%) in albedo. The consistency between fine and coarse spatial resolution albedo estimates indicates the ability of the daily MCD43D product to reproduce reasonably well the dynamics of albedo.