Validation of the MODIS global land surface albedo product using ground measurements in a semidesert region on the Tibetan Plateau

An evaluation of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) global land surface albedo product is essential for its use in scientific studies. We evaluate the accuracy of the albedo product with nearly 3 years (from January 2001 to July 2003) of ground measurements from the Gaize Automatic Weather Station (32.30degreesN, 84.06degreesE, 4420 m) on the western Tibetan Plateau. The land surface consists of semidesert or desert soil. Vegetation in this region is very rare. A comparison with field measurements shows that the MODIS global land surface albedo meets an absolute accuracy requirement of 0.02. There is no distinctive bias between the MODIS-derived albedo and the ground-measured albedo, with a root-mean-square error of 0.0186 and a maximum error of 0.036.