Spatial patterns of mean monthly surface albedo for May, June, and July, derived from DMSP Operational Line Scan (OLS) satellite imagery are compared with surface albedos derived from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (ISCCP) monthly data set. Spatial patterns obtained by the two techniques are in general agreement, especially for June and July. Nevertheless, systematic differences in albedo of 0.05--0.10 are noted which are most likely related to uncertainties in the simple parameterizations used in the DMSP analyses, problems in the ISCCP cloud-celaring algorithm and other modeling simplifications. However, with respect to the eventual goal of developing a reliable automated retrieval algorithm for compiling a long-term albedo data base, these initial comparisons are very encouraging. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993