Project Funding: 2011 - 2018

NRA: 2006 NASA: EOS   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
The MODIS BRDF/Albedo Product has been providing reflectance anisotropy, albedo, and nadir BRDF-adjusted reflectances (NBAR or nadir view-angle corrected reflectances) for more than a decade now. Albedo measurements are being increasingly used for model initializations and assessments of the surface energy budget. NBARs are the primary input for the MODIS phenology product and are used for a number of regional phenology and ecosystem monitoring studies as well. NACP investigators are also being provided with complete gap-filled datasets of these quantities. Extensive cross-validation exercises have focused on data from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN)/Surfrad towers, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites, Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, Ameriflux towers and NEON sites. Involvement in the Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC) and Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) and ECO3D field measurement campaigns have resulted in both field and CAR aircraft measurements that we can use for validation of the satellite products. The ARCTAS effort also has focused our efforts on more realistic treatments of the albedos of snow-covered high latitude forests and tundras during the spring melt season. Recent successes in coupling estimates of escape probability from MODIS reflectance anisotropy products with LVIS airborne lidar data to obtain forest height information are contributing to efforts to assess standing biomass. The efforts of the ORNL DAAC to generate subsets of actual albedo (the albedo at a particular solar zenith angle and aerosol optical depth) and NBAR at all Ameriflux, BSRN, ARM, and LTER sites have been particularly successful in providing NACP investigators with site specific radiation and phenology information.

Publications:

Kim, J., Hwang, T., Schaaf, C. L., Kljun, N., Munger, J. W. 2018. Seasonal variation of source contributions to eddy-covariance CO2 measurements in a mixed hardwood-conifer forest. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 253-254, 71-83. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.02.004

Cescatti, A., Marcolla, B., Santhana Vannan, S. K., Pan, J. Y., Roman, M. O., Yang, X., Ciais, P., Cook, R. B., Law, B. E., Matteucci, G., Migliavacca, M., Moors, E., Richardson, A. D., Seufert, G., Schaaf, C. B. 2012. Intercomparison of MODIS albedo retrievals and in situ measurements across the global FLUXNET network. Remote Sensing of Environment. 121, 323-334. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2012.02.019

Wang, Z., Schaaf, C. B., Chopping, M. J., Strahler, A. H., Wang, J., Roman, M. O., Rocha, A. V., Woodcock, C. E., Shuai, Y. 2012. Evaluation of Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow albedo product (MCD43A) over tundra. Remote Sensing of Environment. 117, 264-280. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2011.10.002

He, L., Chen, J. M., Pisek, J., Schaaf, C. B., Strahler, A. H. 2012. Global clumping index map derived from the MODIS BRDF product. Remote Sensing of Environment. 119, 118-130. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2011.12.008

Hill, Michael J., R. O. Miguel and C. B. Schaaf. 2011. Biogeography and Dynamics of Global Savannas: A Spatio-Temporal View, In Hill, Michael J. and Hanan, Niall P. eds. Ecosystem Function in Savannas: Measurement and Modeling at Landscape to Global Scales. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida) pp 3 - 37. ISBN 9781439804704 - CAT# K10258

O'Halloran, T. L., Law, B. E., Goulden, M. L., Wang, Z., Barr, J. G., Schaaf, C., Brown, M., Fuentes, J. D., Gockede, M., Black, A., Engel, V. 2011. Radiative forcing of natural forest disturbances. Global Change Biology. 18(2), 555-565. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02577.x

Jiao, Z., Woodcock, C., Schaaf, C. B., Tan, B., Liu, J., Gao, F., Strahler, A., Li, X., Wang, J. 2014. Improving MODIS land cover classification by combining MODIS spectral and angular signatures in a Canadian boreal forest. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. 37(2), 184-203. DOI: 10.5589/m11-030

Roman, M. O., Gatebe, C. K., Schaaf, C. B., Poudyal, R., Wang, Z., King, M. D. 2011. Variability in surface BRDF at different spatial scales (30m-500m) over a mixed agricultural landscape as retrieved from airborne and satellite spectral measurements. Remote Sensing of Environment. 115(9), 2184-2203. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2011.04.012

Hill, M. J., Roman, M. O., Schaaf, C. B. 2012. Dynamics of vegetation indices in tropical and subtropical savannas defined by ecoregions and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover. Geocarto International. 27(2), 153-191. DOI: 10.1080/10106049.2011.626529

Hill, M. J., Roman, M. O., Schaaf, C. B., Hutley, L., Brannstrom, C., Etter, A., Hanan, N. P. 2011. Characterizing vegetation cover in global savannas with an annual foliage clumping index derived from the MODIS BRDF product. Remote Sensing of Environment. 115(8), 2008-2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2011.04.003

Xiao, J. 2013. Assessing Net Ecosystem Exchange of Carbon Dioxide Between the Terrestrial Biosphere and the Atmosphere Using Fluxnet Observations and Remote Sensing in: Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry: Biophysical Applications of Satellite Remote Sensing. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 149-169. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25047-7_6

Ni-Meister, W., Lee, S., Strahler, A. H., Woodcock, C. E., Schaaf, C., Yao, T., Ranson, K. J., Sun, G., Blair, J. B. 2010. Assessing general relationships between aboveground biomass and vegetation structure parameters for improved carbon estimate from lidar remote sensing. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 115(G2). DOI: 10.1029/2009JG000936

Lyapustin, A., Gatebe, C. K., Kahn, R., Brandt, R., Redemann, J., Russell, P., King, M. D., Pedersen, C. A., Gerland, S., Poudyal, R., Marshak, A., Wang, Y., Schaaf, C., Hall, D., Kokhanovsky, A. 2010. Analysis of snow bidirectional reflectance from ARCTAS Spring-2008 Campaign. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 10(9), 4359-4375. DOI: 10.5194/acp-10-4359-2010

Wang, Y., Lyapustin, A. I., Privette, J. L., Cook, R. B., SanthanaVannan, S. K., Vermote, E. F., Schaaf, C. L. 2010. Assessment of biases in MODIS surface reflectance due to Lambertian approximation. Remote Sensing of Environment. 114(11), 2791-2801. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2010.06.013

Roman, M. O., Schaaf, C. B., Lewis, P., Gao, F., Anderson, G. P., Privette, J. L., Strahler, A. H., Woodcock, C. E., Barnsley, M. 2010. Assessing the coupling between surface albedo derived from MODIS and the fraction of diffuse skylight over spatially-characterized landscapes. Remote Sensing of Environment. 114(4), 738-760. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2009.11.014

Hall, D. K., Nghiem, S. V., Schaaf, C. B., DiGirolamo, N. E., Neumann, G. 2009. Evaluation of surface and near-surface melt characteristics on the Greenland ice sheet using MODIS and QuikSCAT data. Journal of Geophysical Research. 114(F4). DOI: 10.1029/2009JF001287

Schaaf, C.B., J. Cihlar, A. Belward, E. Dutton, and M. Verstraete. 2009. Albedo and Reflectance Anisotropy, ECV-T8: GTOS Assessment of the status of the development of standards for the Terrestrial Essential Climate Variables, ed., R. Sessa, FAO, Rome.

Roman, M. O., Schaaf, C. B., Woodcock, C. E., Strahler, A. H., Yang, X., Braswell, R. H., Curtis, P. S., Davis, K. J., Dragoni, D., Goulden, M. L. 2009. The MODIS (Collection V005) BRDF/albedo product: Assessment of spatial representativeness over forested landscapes. Remote Sensing of Environment. 113(11), 2476-2498. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2009.07.009

Rutan, D., Rose, F., Roman, M., Manalo-Smith, N., Schaaf, C., Charlock, T. 2009. Development and assessment of broadband surface albedo from Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Clouds and Radiation Swath data product. Journal of Geophysical Research. 114(D8). DOI: 10.1029/2008JD010669

Zhang, X., Friedl, M. A., Schaaf, C. B. 2009. Sensitivity of vegetation phenology detection to the temporal resolution of satellite data. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 30(8), 2061-2074. DOI: 10.1080/01431160802549237

Ju, J., Roy, D. P., Shuai, Y., Schaaf, C. 2010. Development of an approach for generation of temporally complete daily nadir MODIS reflectance time series. Remote Sensing of Environment. 114(1), 1-20. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2009.05.022

Liu, J., Schaaf, C., Strahler, A., Jiao, Z., Shuai, Y., Zhang, Q., Roman, M., Augustine, J. A., Dutton, E. G. 2009. Validation of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo retrieval algorithm: Dependence of albedo on solar zenith angle. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 114(D1). DOI: 10.1029/2008JD009969

Moody, E. G., King, M. D., Schaaf, C. B., Platnick, S. 2008. MODIS-Derived Spatially Complete Surface Albedo Products: Spatial and Temporal Pixel Distribution and Zonal Averages. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 47(11), 2879-2894. DOI: 10.1175/2008JAMC1795.1

Hill, M. J., Averill, C., Jiao, Z., Schaaf, C. B., Armston, J. D. 2014. Relationship of MISR RPV parameters and MODIS BRDF shape indicators to surface vegetation patterns in an Australian tropical savanna. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. 34(sup2), S247-S267. DOI: 10.5589/m08-042

Knobelspiesse, K. D., Cairns, B., Schmid, B., Roman, M. O., Schaaf, C. B. 2008. Surface BRDF estimation from an aircraft compared to MODIS and ground estimates at the Southern Great Plains site. Journal of Geophysical Research. 113(D20). DOI: 10.1029/2008JD010062

Coddington, O., Schmidt, K. S., Pilewskie, P., Gore, W. J., Bergstrom, R. W., Roman, M., Redemann, J., Russell, P. B., Liu, J., Schaaf, C. C. 2008. Aircraft measurements of spectral surface albedo and its consistency with ground-based and space-borne observations. Journal of Geophysical Research. 113(D17). DOI: 10.1029/2008JD010089

Stone, R. S., Anderson, G. P., Shettle, E. P., Andrews, E., Loukachine, K., Dutton, E. G., Schaaf, C., Roman, M. O. 2008. Radiative impact of boreal smoke in the Arctic: Observed and modeled. Journal of Geophysical Research. 113(D14). DOI: 10.1029/2007JD009657

2008. Advances in Land Remote Sensing. Springer Netherlands. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-6450-0

Roy, D. P., Ju, J., Lewis, P., Schaaf, C., Gao, F., Hansen, M., Lindquist, E. 2008. Multi-temporal MODIS-Landsat data fusion for relative radiometric normalization, gap filling, and prediction of Landsat data. Remote Sensing of Environment. 112(6), 3112-3130. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2008.03.009

Schaaf, C. 2008. Albedo and Reflectance Anisotropy, Terrestrial Essential Climate Variables for Climate Change Assessment, Mitigation and Adaptation., GTOS-52, Eds. R. Sessa and H. Dolman, FAO, Rome, 28-29. http://www.fao.org/gtos/doc/pub52.pdf

Zhang, X., Friedl, M. A., Schaaf, C. B. 2006. Global vegetation phenology from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS): Evaluation of global patterns and comparison with in situ measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 111(G4). DOI: 10.1029/2006JG000217

Schaaf, C. B., F. Gao, A. H. Strahler, W. Lucht, X. Li, T. Tsang, N. C. Strugnell, X. Zhang, Y. Jin, J.-P. Muller, P. Lewis, M. Barnsley, P. Hobson, M. Disney, G. Roberts, M. Dunderdale, C. Doll, R. d'Entremont, B. Hu, S. Liang, and J. L. Privette, and D. P. Roy. 2002. First Operational BRDF, Albedo and Nadir Reflectance Products from MODIS, Remote Sens. Environ., 83, 135-148. 0034-4257/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved PII: S0034-4257(02)00091-3

2010 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting Poster(s)

• Boston Ultra-Ex: Terrestrial to Marine Carbon Flux   --   (Crystal Schaaf, Nathan Phillips, Alan Strahler, Robinson W. Fulweiler, Amala Mahadevan, Ramakrishna Nemani, David Tenenbaum, Robert Chen, Mingshun Jiang, Ellen Douglas, Anamarija Frankic)   [abstract]   [poster]

2008 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Posters

• Assessment of Albedo Derived from MODIS   --   (Miguel Roman, Crystal Schaaf, Alan Strahler, Charles Gatebe, Michael King, Jeff Morisette)   [abstract]
• Canopy Vertical Structure from the MODIS BRDF Product   --   (Zhuosen Wang, Crystal Schaaf, Yuri Knyazikhin, Mitchell Schull, Tian Yao, Feng Zhao, Ranga Myneni)   [abstract]
• Relationship of MISR RPV parameters and MODIS BRDF shape indicators to surface vegetation patterns in an Australian tropical savanna   --   (Michael J Hill, Clare Averill, Ziti Jiao, Crystal B Schaaf, John D Armston)   [abstract]   [poster]

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile
• North American Carbon Program (NACP) Project Profile