---
name: "i.albedo"
section: "1grass"
platform: "linux"
package: "grass-doc"
version: "8.4.1-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/i.albedo"
---

# i.albedo(1grass)

Computes broad band albedo from surface reflectance.

## NAME

**i.albedo**  - Computes broad band albedo from surface reflectance.

## KEYWORDS

imagery, albedo, reflectance, satellite, Landsat, ASTER, AVHRR, MODIS

## SYNOPSIS

**i.albedo**\
 **i.albedo --help**\
 **i.albedo** \[-**mnl8acd**\] **input**=*name*\[,*name*,...\] **output**=*name*  \[--**overwrite**\]  \[--**help**\]  \[--**verbose**\]  \[--**quiet**\]  \[--**ui**\]

### Flags:

- **-m**

  MODIS (7 input bands:1,2,3,4,5,6,7)

- **-n**

  NOAA AVHRR (2 input bands:1,2)

- **-l**

  Landsat 5+7 (6 input bands:1,2,3,4,5,7)

- **-8**

  Landsat 8 (7 input bands:1,2,3,4,5,6,7)

- **-a**

  ASTER (6 input bands:1,3,5,6,8,9)

- **-c**

  Aggressive mode (Landsat)\
   Albedo dry run to calculate some water to beach/sand/desert stretching, a kind of simple atmospheric correction

- **-d**

  Soft mode (MODIS)\
   Albedo dry run to calculate some water to beach/sand/desert stretching, a kind of simple atmospheric correction

- **--overwrite**

  Allow output files to overwrite existing files

- **--help**

  Print usage summary

- **--verbose**

  Verbose module output

- **--quiet**

  Quiet module output

- **--ui**

  Force launching GUI dialog

### Parameters:

- **input**=*name\[,name*,...\] **\[required\]**

  Name of input raster map

- **output**=*name* **\[required\]**

  Name for output raster map

## DESCRIPTION

*i.albedo* calculates the albedo, that is the Shortwave surface reflectance in the range of 0.3-3 micro-meters.  It takes as input individual bands of surface reflectance originating from MODIS, AVHRR, Landsat or Aster satellite sensors and calculates the albedo for those.  This is a precursor to *r.sun* and any energy-balance processing.

## NOTES

It uses for Landsat 8 the weighted average reflectance (temporary solution until an algorithm is found).

It assumes MODIS product surface reflectance in \[0;10000\].

## EXAMPLE

The following example creates the raster map "albedo\_lsat7\_1987" from the LANDSAT-TM5 bands in the North Carolina dataset:\

```
g.region raster=lsat5_1987_10 -p
i.albedo -l input=lsat5_1987_10,lsat5_1987_20,lsat5_1987_30,lsat5_1987_40,lsat5_1987_50,lsat5_1987_70 output=albedo_lsat7_1987
```

*Figure: Resulting albedo map from LANDSAT 5*

The following example creates the raster map "albedo\_lsat7\_2000" from the LANDSAT-TM7 bands in the North Carolina dataset:\

```
g.region raster=lsat7_2000_10 -p
i.albedo -l input=lsat7_2000_10,lsat7_2000_20,lsat7_2000_30,lsat7_2000_40,lsat7_2000_50,lsat7_2000_70 output=albedo_lsat7_2000
```

*Figure: Resulting albedo map from LANDSAT 7*

## TODO

Maybe change input requirement of MODIS to \[0.0-1.0\]?

## REFERENCES

For a 2 band determination of the Aster BB Albedo see the following:

Salleh and Chan, 2014. Land Surface Albedo Determination: Remote Sensing and Statistical Validation. in proceedings of FIG 2014 (PDF)

## SEE ALSO

*r.sun,* *i.vi*

## AUTHOR

Yann Chemin

## SOURCE CODE

Available at: i.albedo source code (history)

Accessed: Monday Feb 24 17:51:31 2025

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