GRAS

Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S

c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

Providing Albedo and LAI products from MODIS satellite

data
- to be used for hydrological modelling of the Okavango River

Quality Assessment of the Albedo data products.

The Okavango Delta, MODIS Albedo, 1 km, February 26th 2000

GRAS
May 6th, 2004

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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

Quality assessment of the LAI products Geographic Resource Analysis & Science Ltd.
c/o Institute of Geography,
University of Copenhagen
DK-1350 Copenhagen K
Providing Land Surface Temperature, Albedo and LAI Denmark
products from MODIS satellite data
Tel: +45 35 32 25 78
- to be used for hydrological modelling of the Okavango Fax: +45 35 32 25 01
River
e-mail: gras@gras.ku.dk
Web: www.gras.ku.dk

6. May 2004
Client Client’s representative

DHI Torsten Jacobsen

Project Project Ref.

Okavango Delta Management Plan, Botswana 50042

Authors Date
6. May 2004
Lars Boye Hansen
Approved by
MSR

Revision Description By Checked Approved Date

Quality assessment

Key words Classification

Open

Internal

Proprietary

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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

Data origin and description

The MODIS Albedo product combines registered, multidate, multiband, atmospherically corrected
surface reflectance data from the MODIS and MISR instruments to fit a Bidirectional Reflectance
Distribution Function (BRDF) in seven spectral bands at a 1 km spatial resolution on a 16-day
cycle. From this characterization of the surface anisotropy, the algorithm performs angular
integrations to derive intrinsic land surface albedos for each spectral band and three broad bands
covering the solar spectrum. The albedo measures are a directional hemispherical reflectance (black
sky albedo - BSA) obtained by integrating the BRDF over the exitance hemisphere for a single
irradiance direction, and a bihemispherical reflectance (white sky albedo - WSA) obtained by
integrating the BRDF over all viewing and irradiance directions. Because these albedo measures are
purely properties of the surface and do not depend on the state of the atmosphere, they can be used
with any atmospheric specification to provide true surface albedo. Validation of the BRDF model
and its performance under conditions of sparse angular sampling and noisy reflectances shows that
the retrievals obtained are generally reliable. The Spectral-to-broadband conversion is achieved
using band-dependent weighting factors. The product described in this document and delivered to
the client is the broadband albedo covering the spectra from 0.3 - 5.0 µm.

The intrinsic land surface albedos may be used to derive the actual albedo by taking into account
the prevailing distribution of diffuse skylight. The BSA describes the situation with completely
direct beam illumination and WSA the situation with completely diffuse illumination. The ‘true’
albedo (‘blue sky albedo’) is somewhere in between these extreme situations and can be found by
interpolating between BSA and WSA as a function of the fraction of diffuse skylight which is a
function of the aerosol optical depth.

Information about the aerosol optical depth is available through the level-3 MODIS gridded
atmosphere monthly global product. It contains monthly 1 x 1 degree Climate Model Grid (CMG)
average values of atmospheric parameters related to e.g. atmospheric aerosol particle properties,
total ozone burden, atmospheric water vapour, cloud optical and physical properties, and
atmospheric stability indices. Monthly average values for the aerosol optical depth for the area
covering the Okavango Delta study area were extracted for the period April 2000 – February 2004.
Values for February and March 2000 were not available in the archive so average values from the
two months for the years 2001 – 2003 (and 2004 for February) were used. Intermediate values
between the monthly average values were estimated based on a simple linear interpolation. The
distribution of the aerosol optical depth as a function of time is shown in Figure 2.

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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

0,70

0,60

0,50
Aerosol Optical Thickness [unitless]

0,40

0,30

0,20

0,10

0,00
2000-04 2000-09 2001-02 2001-07 2001-12 2002-05 2002-10 2003-03 2003-08 2004-01
DOY (Period: April 2000 - Feb. 2004)

Figure 1: Aerosol Optiacl Thickness distribution throughout the study period. The four different peaks
represent seperate years. Data are extracted from the MODIS monthly Level-3 atmospheric products and cover
the average values for the entire study area

With the information about the optical thickness it is possible to determine the fraction of diffuse
skylight. From the Boston University Department of Geography and Center for Remote Sensing
Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function and Albedo Research Website a look-up table
based on the atmospherical correction module 6S is available. The fraction of diffuse light (SKYL)
changes with solar zenith angle, optical depth, bands and aerosol model types. In order to obtain
SKYL easily and quickly, a SKYL lookup table was established at with the help of the
atmospherical correction code 6S. In the lookup table, 90 solar zenith angle (0 to 89 degrees with a
1 degree step), 50 optical depths (0 to 1.0 with 0.02 step), 10 bands (7 MODIS land bands and 3
broad bands) and 2 aerosol model types (continental and maritime) were pre-calculated. The total
numbers of elements in the MODIS lookup table is: 2 (aerosol model types) * 10 (bands) * 90
(szns) * 50 (optical depth) = 90,000. With the selection of a continental aerosol distribution and
information of sun zenith angle at satellite overpass (~ 10.30 UTC) and aerosol optical thickness the
fraction of diffuse skylight can be determined. The result is shown in Figure 2

The calculation of the actual albedo can then be done by the following expression:

Actual albedo = WSA * SKYL fraction + BSA * (1 - SKYL fraction)

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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

0,4

0,35

0,3
Fraction of diffuse skylight [unitless]

0,25

0,2

0,15

0,1

0,05

0
49 129 209 289 1 81 161 241 321 33 113 193 273 353 65 145 225 305 17
DOY (Period: Feb. 2000 - Feb. 2004)

Figure 2: Fraction of diffuse skylight throughout the study period. Found from the look-up table described in the
text and information about aerosol type and sun zenith angle.

The albedo and atmosphere data products are validated, meaning that product uncertainties are well
defined over a range of representative conditions. Since the MODIS dataset is continuously being
refined there may be later improved versions. However, the current dataset is regarded ready for use
in scientific publications.

The Albedo data products were obtained from the Earth Observing System Data Gateway and post
processed following the specifications listed in the addendum from March 8th 2004 to the sub-
contract agreement between Scanagri and GRAS, October 20th 2003. The Atmosphere data were
extracted from the MODIS Online Visualization and Analysis System (MOVAS).

Input data: Broadband albedo raw data from two independent data granules (coverage shown
below) and monthly average values of aerosol optical thickness. A look-up table was used to
determine the fraction of diffuse skylight.

Output data: Reprojected (UTM zone 34S, Cape datum) and mosaiced albedo data covering the
Okavango Delta area (LAI product and Quality layer)

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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

The data are delivered in 16-bit format with a typical valid data in the range 0 – 300 for the delta
area and a scale factor of 0.001. A data value of 140 is therefore equivalent with an albedo value of
140*0.001 = 0.14. A fill value of 32767 is added to the data layer where no data is available.

Quality assessment of the data products

In the following section a description of the data quality in terms of temporal and spatial coverage is
given. A number of randomly selected scenes were also examined to test the data are within
acceptable ranges. In order to provide information about the quality of the albedo values and cloud
cover the background information (quality layers) were processed and analyzed as well.

Temporal coverage
The 16-day data products were processed for the period 18/2-2000 – 18/2-2004 and thus cover four
full years. The coverage is almost continuous with only 2 of the 16-day products missing. 2001 and
2002 have complete coverage. The coverage is shown in Table 1.

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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

Table 1: Temporal coverage of the 16-day Albedo products. Red cells indicate missing data.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
1 X X X X
17 X X X X
33 X X X X
49 X X X X X
65 X X X X
81 X X X X
97 X X X X
113 X X X X
129 X X X X
145 X X X X
161 X X X X
177 X X X X
193 X X X X
209 X X X X
225 X X X X
241 X X X X
257 X X X X
273 X X X X
289 X X X X
305 X X X X
321 X X X
337 X X X
353 X X X X

Spatial coverage
The spatial coverage is a measure of how much of the total area that is actually covered with valid
data. The main reason for data to be masked (and the fill value of 32767 to be applied) is due to
cloud cover. Satellite data are often contaminated by clouds and/or changing atmospheric
conditions. In order to be able to distinguish between different levels of uncertainties a quality layer
is provided with the data which indicates the potential uncertainties at the pixel level.

In order to identify and separate areas excluded due to cloud cover the quality layers were examined
also. The statistics showed a 100% distribution of values identified as ‘Best Possible’. As this is
clearly wrong (the test of data ranges showed numerous pixels with the fill value 32767. These
pixels are clearly not ‘Best possible’) the fill value was used to give information about the cloud
cover instead of the quality layers. The current version of the dataset was released February 13th,
2004. It seems as if a problem with the quality layers has not been corrected yet but will most likely
be corrected in the near future. This has no effect on the actual data values as they have undergone
extensive validation before being released.

Data quality
The results of the analysis of the fill value distribution are listed below in Table 2 and Figure 3. The
analysis clearly shows that the fill value distribution over time is dependent on cloud cover. Outside
the rainy season no or only very few pixels are masked with the fill value. Throughout the period
only 19 out of 94 available data tiles have >1% pixels with the fill value – in other words 80% of
the data contains 99% or more valid data. This high percentage is connected to the 16-day coverage
of the albedo products. The chance of getting a valid data value within a specific time frame is
simply larger the longer this time frame is.
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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

Table 2: Percentage of pixels containing the fill value of 32767. These pixels contain no data and the percentage
is therefore a measure of the spatial quality of the data.
DOY 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
1 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 19,2
17 0,0 0,3 1,7 6,0 0,1
33 0,0 45,8 0,7 4,7 0,1
49 6,3 2,7 0,0 0,0 47,8
65 3,1 0,0 0,0 0,0
81 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
97 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
113 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
129 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
145 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
161 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
177 0,0 0,0 0,1 0,0
193 0,0 0,0 0,0 0,0
209 0,0 0,0 0,1 0,1
225 0,0 0,0 0,1 0,0
241 0,0 0,1 0,0 0,3
257 0,0 0,1 0,0 0,2
273 0,3 0,1 0,0 3,6
289 0,0 0,1 0,2 0,4
305 0,0 4,4 3,7 0,4
321 0,0 3,3 0,2
337 18,3 1,2 2,5
353 19,8 0,0 1,3 53,9

100
2000 2001 2002
90
2003 2004
80

70
% pixels with fill value

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 17 33 49 65 81 97 113 129 145 161 177 193 209 225 241 257 273 289 305 321 337 353
DOY

Figure 3: Schematic representation of the fill value percentages listed in Table 2

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GRAS
Geographic Resource Analysis and Science A/S
c/o Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen

Conclusion

The overall data quality has been examined and based on a number of randomly selected files the
albedo ranges for the study area falls within acceptable ranges with a typical data range of 0 – 300.
The temporal coverage is almost complete over the full 4-year period with only two 16-day
products missing in 2003 and none in 2001 and 2002. The spatial coverage is to some extent limited
by cloud cover in the rainy season but for 80 % of the data files the coverage of albedo with valid
data is >99%.

The data products derived from MODIS is undergoing continuous investigation and improvements.
The current data set was released February 13th, 2004 and a problem with the quality layers has not
been corrected yet. However, this has no effect on the actual data values and the products still
considered state-of-the-art in terms of routinely and operationally satellite derived information on
albedo.