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Description

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) NASA standard Level 3 (L3) monthly Deep Blue Aerosol Products from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) instrument provide satellite-derived measurements of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) and their properties over land and ocean as gridded aggregates, globally on a monthly basis. The Deep Blue algorithm draws its heritage from previous applications to retrieve AOT from Sea‐viewing Wide Field‐of‐view Sensor (SeaWiFS) over both land and ocean, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements over land.

This monthly aggregated product (Short-name: AERDB_M3_VIIRS_SNPP) is derived from the Version 2.1 (v2.1) daily L3 gridded products (AERDB_D3_VIIRS_SNPP) and is provided in a 1 ° x 1 ° horizontal-resolution grid. Arithmetic mean values from the daily L3 gridded products also provide the basis to derive a complement of statistics for the monthly aggregated products. To exclude poorly sampled grid elements, the algorithm requires at least 3 valid days’ worth of data to render a given monthly grid element as valid. This collection’s product record starts on March 1, 2012 (2012-061).

This L3 monthly product, in netCDF, contains 45 Science Data Set (SDS) layers that have names identical to the SDSs in the daily L3 product, and include the following:

  1. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Count
  2. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Maximum
  3. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Mean
  4. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Minimum
  5. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Ocean_Count
  6. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Ocean_Maximum
  7. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Ocean_Mean
  8. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Ocean_Minimum
  9. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Ocean_Standard_Deviation
  10. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Land_Standard_Deviation
  11. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Ocean_Count
  12. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Ocean_Maximum
  13. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Ocean_Mean
  14. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Ocean_Minimum
  15. Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_550_Ocean_Standard_Deviation
  16. Aerosol_Type_Land_Ocean_Histogram
  17. Aerosol_Type_Land_Ocean_Mode
  18. Aerosol_Types
  19. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Maximum
  20. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Mean
  21. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Minimum
  22. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Ocean_Maximum
  23. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Ocean_Mean
  24. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Ocean_Minimum
  25. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Ocean_Standard_Deviation
  26. Angstrom_Exponent_Land_Standard_Deviation
  27. Angstrom_Exponent_Ocean_Maximum
  28. Angstrom_Exponent_Ocean_Mean
  29. Angstrom_Exponent_Ocean_Minimum
  30. Angstrom_Exponent_Ocean_Standard_Deviation
  31. Fine_Mode_Fraction_550_Ocean_Mean
  32. Fine_Mode_Fraction_550_Ocean_Standard_Deviation
  33. Land_Bands
  34. Latitude
  35. Latitude_1D
  36. Longitude
  37. Longitude_1D
  38. Ocean_Bands
  39. Spectral_Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_Land_Count
  40. Spectral_Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_Land_Mean
  41. Spectral_Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_Land_Standard_Deviation
  42. Spectral_Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_Ocean_Count
  43. Spectral_Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_Ocean_Mean
  44. Spectral_Aerosol_Optical_Thickness_Ocean_Standard_Deviation
  45. Unsuitable_Pixel_Fraction_Land_Ocean

Consult the VIIRS Deep Blue Aerosol Product User Guide for additional information regarding the global attributes, data field attributes, SDS names and descriptions, quality flags, software for handling and using these data products, and other relevant information.

Version Description

Differences Between the v2.1 and v2.0 VIIRS Deep Blue Aerosol Collections Significant changes in the v2.1 VIIRS Deep Blue Aerosol Product relative to the v2.0 collection include: 1. VIIRS-derived Deep Blue Aerosol Products are now available from the NOAA-21, NOAA-20, and Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) platforms. 2. Dome C (a calibration site in eastern Antarctica) cross-calibration between SNPP and NOAA-21 has been incorporated to ensure radiometric consistency. 3. AOT spatial distribution has been improved over North Africa (particularly between the Sahara and Sahel regions) and South Asia (around the Thar Desert and Indus River Basin). 4. Aerosol optical models (i.e., single-scattering albedo) have been adjusted over North America, the Sahel, Southern Africa, and India to further optimize retrieval performance. 5. More rigorous Sun-glint screening has been implemented for over-water retrievals, reducing contamination at the expense of some spatial coverage. 6. Cloud filters have been revised to better retain heavy dust plumes and to better remove thin clouds and sea fog over water.

Product Summary

Platforms
Suomi-NPP
Instruments
VIIRS
Projects
Suomi-NPP
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2012-03-01 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Month
Data Partner
L1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System,Biospheric Information Systems Branch, Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/H ,
Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison (UWI-MAD/SSEC)
Concept ID
C4218022437-LAADS
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
5
Processing Level
3
Published
Science Keywords
Aerosol Optical Depth/Thickness ,
Angstrom Exponent

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

VIIRS Atmosphere Science Team, SSEC, University of Wisconsin-Madison. (2026). SNPP VIIRS Deep Blue Level 3 monthly Aerosol Data, 1x1 Degree Grid [Dataset]. NASA Level 1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/AERDB_M3_VIIRS_SNPP.021 Date Accessed: 2026-09-17

File Naming Convention

Syntax: ESDT.AYYYYDDD.CCC.YYYYDDDHHMMSS.Format
Example: AERDB_M3_VIIRS_SNPP.A2012061.021.2026062162633.nc

ESDT = Earth Science Data Type or Shortname
A = Stands for Acquisition
YYYYDDD = Data acquisition year and Day-of-year per the Julian Calendar
HHMM = Acquisition Hour and Minute
CCC = Version ID of the data collection
YYYYDDDHHMMSS = Processing year, Day-of-year, UTC time (hour, minutes, seconds)
Format = File format suffix, which in the above case represents netCDF4

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