An Improved Algorithm to Produce Spatio-Temporally Continuous MODIS Albedo Product in China

Surface albedo is one of the key radiation parameters required for modeling of the Earth´s energy budget, and many ecological and climate models usually require high quality consistent surface albedo as inputs and validation sources. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has been providing surface albedo products periodically. However, due to influence of weather, sensors and algorithms, MODIS albedo products often have many gaps and low quality pixels. This paper proposed an improved spatio-temporal smoothing algorithm utilizing multilevel procedure that combines spatial interpolation and tempora smoothing to get better albedo products based on multiyear observations and high quality neighboring pixels. Compared with field measurements, the improved albedo products in China based on MOD43B3 show better correlation with the measured surface albedo with the overall root mean squared errors around 0.0767. The generated albedo products may be applied in land surface models.