MODIS Albedo and Surface Reflectance Products From Combined Aqua and Terra Processing

The combined Terra and Aqua MODIS BRDF/Albedo product (MCD43) has been operational and running in parallel with the standard Terra-only MODIS BRDF/Albedo product (MOD43) since June 2003. The same algorithm is being used to produce both sets of products (BRDF model parameters, white-sky and black-sky albedo, and Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR)) although, in the case of the combined product (MCD43B4), two NBAR values are supplied at each location - one at the mean time of the Terra overpass and a second at the mean time of the Aqua overpass. Initial comparisons demonstrate how the addition of supplementary cloud-free surface observations from Aqua improve the sampling of the surface anisotropy and lead to a larger number of high quality full inversion retrievals across the globe. Presentation of comparisons between Terra-only and the Terra-plus-Aqua albedos and coincident field validation data from the SURFRAD/BSRN tower sites will also be made.