*2.2. MODIS Data*

## 2.2.1. MCD43 BRDF/Albedo Product

The MODIS Albedo product (MCD43A3 V06) provides daily albedo data on the Earth's surface for each pixel at a grid resolution of 500 m. A 16-day period of cloud-free surface reflectance from both the Terra and the Aqua is used to derive the daily data, with weight as a function of quality, the observation coverage, and the temporal distance from the day of interest. The newly broadcasted albedo product has been utilized for regional applications (e.g., forest, agriculture, and disturbance monitoring), and is now downloadable from the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC). The 16-day composed daily albedo product has been validated over typical agricultural landscapes [10,41], grasslands, and agriculture and forest surfaces [39], but has not been extensively validated for other land cover types using massive amounts of data.

### 2.2.2. MCD12Q1 Land Cover

Land cover plays a major role in the climate and biogeochemistry of the Earth's ecosystem. The MODIS land cover type product provides a suite of land cover types by using spectral and temporal information derived from the MODIS. It characterizes five global land cover classification systems—the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (*IGBP*), university of Maryland (UMD), Leaf Area Index/Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation absorbed by vegetation (LAI/fPAR), New Patriotic Party (NPP), and Plant Functional Types (PFT)—at annual time steps and a 500 m spatial resolution. Land cover type assessment and quality control information are also included. Given that the land cover type may change over time, yearly MODIS land cover type data (MCD12Q1) are downloaded, and the IGBP land cover type is used.
