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Description

The NOAA-20 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Albedo Model Parameters Daily Global 0.05 Degree Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) Version 2 product (VJ143C1) is derived from the 30 arc second CMG VJ143D Version 2 product suite. VJ143C1 is generated daily from all available high-quality reflectance data over a 16-day moving window emphasizing the ninth day of the retrieval period, which is reflected in the Julian date in the filename. VJ143C1 supplies the weighting parameters associated with the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal BRDF model that best describes the anisotropy of each pixel, which is used to produce the VJ143C3 Albedo and VJ143C4 Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) products. The highest quality full inversion values are used for the temporal fitting effort and supplemented with lower quality pixels, spatial fitting, and spatial smoothing as needed. The status of each pixel can be found in the ancillary layers. Users are encouraged to assess the quality information before using the BRDF/Albedo data. This 0.05 degree (5,600 meters at the equator) CMG product covers the entire globe for use in climate simulation models.

The VJ143C1 product includes 39 layers containing the three parameters (fiso, fvol, and fgeo) for the VIIRS Day/Night band (DNB), moderate resolution bands M1 through M5, M7, M8, M10, and M11, as well as the shortwave band, visible band, and near-infrared (NIR) broadbands. Along with the parameter data for the 13 bands are five ancillary layers for uncertainty, quality, local solar noon, percent finer resolution inputs, and snow cover. A low-resolution browse is also provided showing BRDF/Albedo parameters for bands M5, M4, and M3 as a red, green, blue (RGB) image in JPEG format.

Known Issues

Improvements/Changes from Previous Version

  • The NOAA-20 VIIRS algorithms include the same improvements as the S-NPP VIIRS V002
  • Improved calibration algorithm and better coefficients for entire NOAA-20 mission
  • Improved geolocation accuracy and updates to fix outliers around maneuver periods and other events
  • Corrections to the aerosol quantity flag (low, average, high) mainly over brighter surfaces in the mid to high latitudes such as desert and tropical vegetation areas. This has an impact on the retrieval of other downstream data products such as VJ113 Vegetation Indices and VJ143 BRDF/Albedo.
  • Improved cloud mask input product for corrections along coastlines and artifacts from use of coarse resolution climatology data
  • Replaced the land/water mask input product with MODIS heritage seven class land/water mask

Product Summary

Platforms
NOAA-20
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent
N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
5600 Meters x 5600 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2018-01-05 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts, Boston (UMASS-B/SFE)
Land Science Investigator-led Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/LandSIPS)
Concept ID
c2841142213-lpcloud
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated

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

Schaaf, C., Wang, Z., Erb, A., & Paynter, I. (2025). VIIRS/JPSS1 BRDF/Albedo Albedo Model Parameters Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VJ143C1.002 Date Accessed: 2025-07-13

Data Center Citation

Crystal Schaaf, Zhuosen Wang, Angela Erb, Ian Paynter. 2025. VIIRS/JPSS1 BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V002. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA: NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VJ143C1.002.

Documents

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD) The ATBD provides physical theory and mathematical procedures for the calculations used to produce the data products.
GENERAL DOCUMENTATION The File Specification provides a description of the product file including Scientific Data Sets and their attributes.
PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT The LDOPE Land Product Quality Assessment website provides known issues, maneuvers, and product quality of the land products.
SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION Validation at stage 3 has been achieved for the VIIRS BRDF/Albedo product suite.
SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION Further details regarding VIIRS product validation and maturity status are available from VIIRS Land Product Quality Assessment site.

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