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Description

The NOAA-20 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Albedo Quality (VJ143MA2) Version 2 product provides BRDF and Albedo quality at 1 kilometer (km) resolution. The VJ143MA2 product is produced daily using 16 days of VIIRS data and is weighted temporally to the ninth day, which is reflected in the file name. The VJ143MA2 product gives information regarding band quality and days of valid observation within a 16-day period for nine VIIRS moderate resolution bands and three broadbands. The VJ143 data products are designed to promote the continuity of NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) BRDF/Albedo data product suite.

The VJ143 algorithm uses the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) semi-empirical kernel-driven BRDF model, with the three kernel weights from VJ143MA1 to reconstruct surface anisotropic effects, correcting the directional reflectance to a common view geometry (VJ143MA4), while also computing integrated black-sky albedo (BSA) at local solar noon and white-sky albedo (WSA) (VJ143MA3). Researchers can use the BRDF model parameters with a simple polynomial, to obtain black-sky albedo at any solar illumination angle. Likewise, both the BSA and WSA Science Dataset (SDS) layers can be used with a simple polynomial, to manually estimate instantaneous actual albedo (blue-sky albedo). Additional details regarding the methodology are available in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD).

The VNP43MA2 data product provides a total of 23 SDS layers including: BRDF/Albedo band quality and days of valid observation within a 16-day period for VIIRS moderate resolution bands M1-M5, M7-M8, and M10-M11; as well as land water type class flag; snow BRDF albedo class flag; local solar noon; albedo uncertainty and the platform name.

Known Issues

Version Description

NOAA-20 (JPSS-1) VIIRS data products, designated as "VJ1", were introduced in VIIRS Version 2.

Product Summary

Platforms
NOAA-20
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent

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

Spatial Resolution
1000 Meters x 1000 Meters
Spatial Reference System(s)
VIIRS Sinusoidal Tiling System
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2018-01-01 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
C2545310934-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
952378
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Reflectance ,
Albedo ,
Anisotropy

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. (2024). VIIRS/JPSS1 BRDF/Albedo Quality Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VJ143MA2.002 Date Accessed: 2026-02-14

File Naming Convention

VJ143MA2.A2025215.h03v05.002.2025223072110.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VJ143MA2) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025215), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h03v05), the Version of the data collection (002), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025223072110), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M1 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M2 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M3 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M4 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M5 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M7 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M8 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M10 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Quality_M11 BRDF inversion information Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 3 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_LandWaterType Land/Water type Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 254 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_LocalSolarNoon Solar zenith angle at local solar noon Degree uint8 255 0 to 90 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Platform Platform name Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 254 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_Uncertainty Weight of Determination (WoD) of WSA N/A uint16 32767 0 to 32766 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M1 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M1 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M2 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M2 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M3 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M3 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M4 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M4 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M5 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M5 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M7 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M7 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M8 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M7 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M10 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M10 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
BRDF_Albedo_ValidObs_M11 Days of valid observation within 16-day period for band M11 Class Flag uint16 0 1 to 65535 N/A
Snow_BRDF_Albedo Snow flag Class Flag uint8 255 0 to 1 N/A
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