2003), Comparison of MODIS and MISRderived surface albedo with

• Main Authors: J. Stroeve, A. Nolin
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.516.9137; http://las.physik.uni-oldenburg.de/eProceedings/vol02_1/02_1_stroeve1.pdf

Accurate estimation of snow albedo is essential for monitoring the state of the cryosphere. The high albedo of snow-covered surfaces allows little energy to be absorbed by the snowpack. How-ever, as snow ages and/or begins to melt the albedo decreases and more energy is absorbed by the snowpack. This paper examines the retrieval of snow albedo from the MISR and MODIS instru-ments over the Greenland ice sheet. Two different methods are used to compute the albedo. The first method uses spectral information from MISR and MODIS. The second method uses angular information from MISR to develop a statistical relationship between in situ albedo and the red channel reflectance at all nine MISR viewing angles. Good agreement with in situ measurements is found using either method, although problems with instrument calibration, snow BRDF models and narrow-to-broadband albedo relationships can cause the albedo error to still be large with the first method. With a few exceptions, the satellite-derived surface albedo is within about 6 % of that measured at the stations.