Evaluation of the MODIS (C6) Daily Albedo Products for Livingston Island, Antarctic

Abstract

Although extensive research of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo data is available on the Greenland Ice Sheet, there is a lack of studies evaluating MODIS albedo products over Antarctica. In this paper, MOD10A1, MYD10A1, and MCD43 (C6) daily albedo products were compared with the in situ albedo data on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands (SSI), Antarctica, from 2006 to 2015, for both all-sky and clear-sky conditions, and for the entire study period and only the southern summer months. This is the first evaluation in which MYD10A1 and MCD43 are also included, which can be used to improve the accuracy of the snow BRDF/albedo modeling. The best correlation was obtained with MOD10A1 in clear-sky conditions (r = 0.7 and RMSE = 0.042). With MCD43, only data from the backup algorithm could be used, so the correlations obtained were lower (r = 0.6). However, it was found that there was no significant difference between the values obtained for all-sky and for clear-sky data. In addition, the MODIS products were found to describe the in situ data trend, with increasing albedo values in the range between 0.04 decade−1 and 0.16 decade−1. We conclude that MODIS daily albedo products can be applied to study the albedo in the study area.

Improvements in the Estimation of Air Temperature with Empirical Models on Livingston and Deception Islands in Maritime Antarctica (2000–2016) Using C6 MODIS LST

“…In fact, in other polar regions, such as Svalbard, considerably higher error values have been obtained on cloudy days (7 K) than on clear days (3 K) when comparing MODIS LST with T s measurements [75]. This masking effect of the in situ measurement real value had already been described for LST in Siberia [80] and it has been verified that the same occurs with the albedo in our study area: the cloud mask failure can cause MODIS estimate to correspond to cloud albedo values and not snow albedo values [81].…”

Empirical Models for Estimating Air Temperature Using MODIS Land Surface Temperature (and Spatiotemporal Variables) in the Hurd Peninsula of Livingston Island, Antarctica, between 2000 and 2016

“…The albedo analysis showed a slight increase in this variable in the period 2006-2015 of 2% and 6% in the in situ and MODIS data, respectively, which was explained by an increase of snowfall along with a decrease in snowmelt in the study area and the temporal period [26]. Several MODIS daily albedo products were evaluated, and it was concluded that the best correlation between the in situ and MODIS data was obtained with the MOD10A1 product [27]. The temperature analysis in the Hurd Peninsula of Livingston Island is presented in this article and will also contribute to the study of the permafrost, because its thermal behavior and evolution are directly related to the weather and climate conditions, especially when there is no vegetation on the soil surface, which is the case in most of the permafrost areas in Antarctica [24].…”

Strong Warming Over the Antarctic Peninsula During Combined Atmospheric River and Foehn Events: Contribution of Shortwave Radiation and Turbulence

“…We also use the Kain–Fritsch scheme for cumulus parameterization (only for domain 1) and Noah‐MP for the land surface model (Kain, 2004; Niu et al., 2011). Most importantly, REMA 1 km topography information and MODIS observed surface albedo, described previously, are included in the input data to provide a better surface description (Howat et al., 2019; Corbea‐Pérez et al., 2021; Figure S1 in Supporting Information ). To avoid model instabilities, topographic smoothing has been applied to PWRF simulations.…”