The apparent effect of orbital drift on time series of MODIS MOD10A1 albedo on the Greenland ice sheet ...

• Main Authors: Feng, Shunan, Wehrlé, Adrien, Cook, Joseph Mitchell, Anesio, Alexandre Magno, Box, Jason Eric, Benning, Liane G., Tranter, Martyn
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Freie Universität Berlin 2024
• Subjects: Orbit drift; MODIS; Albedo; Greenland ice sheet; Time series; Google Earth Engine; 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik550 Geowissenschaften, Geologie550 Geowissenschaften; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-42577; https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/42861

The NASA MODIS MOD10A1 snow albedo product has enabled numerous glaciological applications. The temporal consistency of MODIS albedo is critical to obtaining reliable results from this 22-year time series. The orbit of Terra began to drift toward earlier acquisition times after the final inclination adjustment maneuver to maintain its nominal orbit by NASA on 27 February 2020, which may introduce biases that compromise the accuracy of quantitative time series analysis as the drift continues. Here, we evaluate the impact of Terra's orbital drift by comparing the differences between the Terra MODIS albedo and albedo products derived from Aqua MODIS, harmonized Landsat and Sentinel 2, Sentinel 3, and PROMICE (Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet) ground measurements over the Greenland ice sheet. Our results suggest that the influence of orbital drift on albedo is small (+0.01 in 2020), but potentially biased for time series analysis. Our analysis also finds that the drift effect that causes ...