Land Surface 30-m Albedo product by Integrating Landsat & LDCM directional reflectance with MODIS anisotropic information

The Landsat program has been obtaining high-resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis since 1972, thus providing one of our longest satellite-based records of the status and dynamics of our planet. The opening of the Landsat archive for free distribution in 2008 has invigorated the push for creation of long-term biophysical and land cover products from the Landsat archive. Surface albedo has been recognized by the international bodies GTOS (Global terrestrial Observing System) and GOOS (Global Ocean Observing System) as an essential climate variable crucial for accurate modeling and monitoring of the Earth's radiative and biophysical regimes. While global climate studies can leverage albedo datasets from MODIS, VIIRS, and other coarse-resolution sensors, many applications in heterogeneous environments can benefit from higher-resolution albedo products derived from Landsat. Over the last five years, we have developed approaches for generating 30m resolution albedo products by combining Landsat directional reflectance with high quality MODIS surface anisotropy information (Shuai et al., 2011, Remote Sensing of Environment). This approach has recently been extended back in time through use of BRDF look-up tables, and forward in time by incorporating new data from Landsat-8 OLI. In this presentation, we review the status of high-resolution albedo products and discuss their quality and uncertainties relative to ground-based retrievals and the MODIS standard product suite. We also give examples of their application, including understanding the evolution of albedo following forest disturbances in the Western United States.