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Description

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Vegetation Indices (VNP13A1) Version 2 data product provides vegetation indices by a process of selecting the best available pixel over a 16-day acquisition period at 500 meter (m) resolution. The VNP13 data products are designed after the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua Vegetation Indices product suite to promote the continuity of the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission.

The VNP13 algorithm process produces three vegetation indices: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and Enhanced Vegetation Index-2 (EVI2). NDVI is one of the longest continual remotely sensed time series observations, using both the red and near-infrared (NIR) bands. EVI is a slightly different vegetation index that is more sensitive to canopy cover, while NDVI is more sensitive to chlorophyll. EVI2 is a reformation of the standard 3-band EVI, using the red band and NIR band. This reformation addresses arising issues when comparing VIIRS EVI to other EVI models that do not include a blue band. EVI2 will eventually become the standard EVI.

Along with the three Vegetation Indices layers, this product also includes layers for NIR reflectance; three shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance; red, blue, and green reflectance; composite day of year; pixel reliability; relative azimuth, view, and sun angles; and a quality layer. Two low resolution browse images are also available for each VNP13A1 product: EVI and NDVI.

Known Issues

  • Due to missing critical inputs, this product lacks coverage for tiles h33v07 and h18v14, which are located over water.
  • For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website and the User Guide and ATBD.

Improvements/Changes from Previous Versions

  • Improved calibration algorithm and coefficients for entire Suomi NPP mission.
  • Improved geolocation accuracy and applied updates to fix outliers around maneuver periods.
  • Corrected 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 VNP13 Vegetation Indices and VNP43 Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (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 the eight-class land/water mask from the VNP03 geolocation product that better aligns with MODIS.
  • Modified QA VI Usefulness bits to ignore BRDF flag.
  • Implemented VI specific land/water mask.
  • More details can be found in this VIIRS Land V2 Changes document.

Version Description

Collection Version 2 Processing and Reprocessing

Product Summary

Platforms
Suomi-NPP
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent
N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2012-01-17 to Present
Temporal Resolution
16 Day
Data Partner
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)
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
Concept ID
C2519127224-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI),
Plant Phenology

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

Vermote, E. (2023). VIIRS/NPP Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP13A1.002 Date Accessed: 2025-10-24

File Naming Convention

VNP13A1.A2025209.h01v11.002.2025228055746.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP13A1) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025209), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h01v11), the Version of the data collection (002), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025228055746), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
500 m 16 days blue reflectance 500 m 16 days blue reflectance (478–498 nm) N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days composite day of the year 500 m 16 days composite day of the year Julian day int16 -1 -1 to 366 N/A
500 m 16 days EVI 500 m 16 days EVI EVI int16 -15000 -15000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days EVI2 500 m 16 days EVI2 EVI2 int16 -15000 -15000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days green reflectance 500 m 16 days green reflectance (545–565 nm) N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days NDVI 500 m 16 days NDVI NDVI int16 -15000 -15000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days NIR reflectance 500 m 16 days NIR reflectance (846–885 nm) N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days pixel reliability 500 m 16 days pixel reliability Rank int8 -4 -4 to 11 N/A
500 m 16 days red reflectance 500 m 16 days red reflectance (600–680 nm) N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days relative azimuth angle 500 m 16 days relative azimuth angle Degree int16 -20000 -20000 to 18000 100
500 m 16 days sun zenith angle 500 m 16 days sun zenith angle Degree int16 -20000 -20000 to 18000 100
500 m 16 days SWIR1 reflectance 500 m 16 days SWIR1 reflectance (1230–1250 nm) N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days SWIR2 reflectance 500 m 16 days SWIR2 reflectance (1580–1640 nm) N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days SWIR3 reflectance 500 m 16 days SWIR3 reflectance (2225–2275 nm) N/A int16 -1000 -1000 to 10000 10000
500 m 16 days view zenith angle 500 m 16 days view zenith angle Degree int16 -20000 -20000 to 18000 100
500 m 16 days VI Quality 500 m 16 days VI Quality Bit Field uint16 65535 65535 to 65534 N/A
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