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Description

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Actual and Potential Evapotranspiration product is a gap-filled yearly composite dataset produced at 500 meter (m) pixel resolution. The VIIRS ET and PET algorithm is based on the Penman-Monteith equation, which includes inputs of daily meteorological reanalysis data along with VIIRS remotely sensed data products such as 8-day vegetation property dynamics and daily surface albedo.

The VNP16A3GF will be generated at the end of each year when the entire yearly 8-day VNP15A2H is available. Hence, the gap-filled VNP16A3GF is the improved VNP16A2, which has cleaned the poor-quality inputs from 8-day Leaf Area Index and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (LAI/FPAR) based on the Quality Control (QC) label for every pixel. If any LAI/FPAR pixel did not meet the quality screening criteria, its value is determined through linear interpolation. However, users cannot get VNP16A3GF in near-real time because it will be generated only at the end of a given year.

Provided in the VNP16A3GF product are layers for composited Evapotranspiration (ET), Latent Heat Flux (LE), Potential ET (PET) and Potential LE (PLE) along with a quality control layer. Two low resolution browse images, ET and LE, are also available for each VNP16A3GF granule.

The pixel values for the two Evapotranspiration layers (ET and PET) are the sum for all days within the defined year, and the pixel values for the two Latent Heat layers (LE and PLE) are the average of all days within the defined year.

Known Issues

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
2012-01-01 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Year
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
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
C2872600518-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Evapotranspiration,
Evaporation,
Latent Heat Flux

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

Zhao, M., Kimball, J., & Devadiga, S. (2025). VIIRS/NPP Actual and Potential Evapotranspiration Gap-Filled Yearly L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP16A3GF.002 Date Accessed: 2025-10-22

File Naming Convention

VNP16A3GF.A2024001.h07v06.002.2025029155713.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP16A3GF) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2024001), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h07v06), the Version of the data collection (002), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025029155713), 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
ET_500m Total Evapotranspiration kg/m²/year uint16 65529 65529 to 65500 0.1
ET_QC_500m Evapotranspiration Quality Assessment Percent uint8 249 249 to 100 N/A
LE_500m Average Latent Heat Flux J/m²/day uint16 32761 32761 to 32700 0.01
PET_500m Total Potential Evapotranspiration kg/m²/year uint16 65529 65529 to 65500 0.1
PLE_500m Average Potential Latent Heat Flux J/m²/day uint16 32761 32761 to 32700 0.01
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