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    • Data from: Multiscale climatological albedo look-up maps derived from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer BRDF/albedo products

    Metadata Updated: March 13, 2026

    Surface albedo determines radiative forcing and is a key parameter for driving Earth’s climate. Better characterization of surface albedo for individual land cover types can reduce the uncertainty in estimating changes to Earth’s radiation balance due to land cover change. The dataset includes albedo look-up maps (LUMs) using a multiscale hierarchical approach based on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF)/albedo products and Landsat imagery. Ten years (2001 to 2011) of MODIS BRDF/albedo products were used to generate global albedo climatology. Albedo LUMs of land cover classes defined by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) at multiple spatial resolutions were generated. The albedo LUMs included monthly statistics of white-sky (diffuse) and black-sky (direct) albedo for each IGBP class for visible, near-infrared, and shortwave broadband under both snow-free and snow-covered conditions. The LUMs provide high temporal and spatial resolution global albedo statistics without gaps for investigating albedo variations under different land cover scenarios and could be used for land surface modeling.

    Resources in this dataset:

    Resource Title: Multiscale climatological albedo look-up maps (LUMS).

    The albedo look-up maps (LUMs) were built on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF)/albedo products and Landsat imagery. Ten years (2001 to 2011) of MODIS BRDF/albedo products were used to generate global albedo climatology. Albedo LUMs of land cover classes defined by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) at multiple spatial resolutions were generated. The albedo LUMs included monthly statistics of white-sky (diffuse) and black-sky (direct) albedo for each IGBP class for visible, near-infrared, and shortwave broadband under both snow-free and snow-covered conditions.The zipped file includes:

    • readme.docx snow_covered_hierarchical.v3.tar
    • snow_covered_LUM.v3.tar snow_free_hierarchical.v3.tar
    • snow_free_LUM.v3.tar


    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: us-pd

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date March 30, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date March 13, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from USDA JSON

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date March 30, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date March 13, 2026
    Publisher Agricultural Research Service
    Maintainer
    Identifier 10.15482/USDA.ADC/1523392
    Data Last Modified 2026-02-19
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 005:18
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id 8cce062f-85f6-466b-bab3-c8f4c76679b9
    Harvest Source Id d3fafa34-0cb9-48f1-ab1d-5b5fdc783806
    Harvest Source Title USDA JSON
    License https://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -180, -90, -180, 90, 180, 90, 180, -90, -180, -90}
    Program Code 005:040
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash d86bab46589e0af0b5082a74faa4cdfc7eb16cd53721006ed8f87eb5a8e05639
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -180, -90, -180, 90, 180, 90, 180, -90, -180, -90}
    Temporal 2001-01-01/2011-01-01

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