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Description

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Land Surface Phenology data product provides global land surface phenology (GLSP) metrics at yearly intervals. The VNP22Q2 data product is derived from time series of the two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index-2 (EVI2) calculated from VIIRS Nadir Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR). Vegetation phenology metrics at 500 meter spatial resolution are identified for up to two detected growing cycles per year.

Provided in each VNP22Q2 product are 19 Science Dataset (SDS) layers. The product contains six phenological transition dates: onset of greenness increase, onset of greenness maximum, onset of greenness decrease, onset of greenness minimum, dates of mid-greenup, and senescence phases. The product also includes the growing season length. The greenness related metrics consist of EVI2 onset of greenness increase, EVI2 onset of greenness maximum, EVI2 growing season, rate of greenness increase and rate of greenness decrease. The confidence of phenology detection is provided as greenness agreement growing season, proportion of good quality (PGQ) growing season, PGQ onset greenness increase, PGQ onset greenness maximum, PGQ onset greenness decrease, and PGQ onset greenness minimum. The final layer is quality control specifying the overall quality of the product. A low-resolution browse image showing greenup is also available when viewing each VNP22Q2 granule.

Important information is provided in Section 5 of the User Guide when comparing VNP22Q2 with the MCD12Q2 data product.

Known Issues

Improvements/Changes from Previous Versions

  • Improved calibration algorithm and better coefficients for entire Suomi NPP 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 VNP13 Vegetation Indices and VNP43 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
  • 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
2013-01-01 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
C2847915918-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Reflectance

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

Zhang, X. (2024). VIIRS/NPP Land Surface Phenology Yearly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP22Q2.002 Date Accessed: 2025-10-21

File Naming Convention

VNP22Q2.A2023001.h23v08.002.2024234130237.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP22Q2) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2023001), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h23v08), the Version of the data collection (002), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2024234130237), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

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
Date_Mid_Greenup_Phase Date at a mid-greenup phase Day uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 N/A
Date_Mid_Senescence_Phase Date at a mid-senescence phase Day uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 N/A
EVI2_Growing_Season_Area Integrated EVI2 during a growing season EVI2 uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 0.01
EVI2_Onset_Greenness_Increase EVI2 value at greenup onset EVI2 uint16 32767 32767 to 10000 0.0001
EVI2_Onset_Greenness_Maximum EVI2 value at maturity onset EVI2 uint16 32767 32767 to 10000 0.0001
GLSP_QC Global Land Surface Phenology Quality Control N/A uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
Greenness_Agreement_Growing_Season EVI2 agreement between modeled values and raw observations N/A uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
Growing_Season_Length Growing Season Length Number uint16 32767 32767 to 366 N/A
Onset_Greenness_Decrease Date at which canopy greenness begins to decrease Day uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 N/A
Onset_Greenness_Increase Date of onset of greenness increase Day uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 N/A
Onset_Greenness_Maximum Date at which canopy greenness approaches its seasonal maximum Day uint16 32766 32766 to 32766 N/A
Onset_Greenness_Minimum Date at which canopy greenness reaches a minimum Day uint16 32766 32766 to 32766 N/A
PGQ_Growing_Season Proportion of good quality of VIIRS observations during a vegetation growing season N/A uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
PGQ_Onset_Greenness_Decrease Proportion of good quality around senescence onset N/A uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
PGQ_Onset_Greenness_Increase Proportion of good quality around greenup onset N/A uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
PGQ_Onset_Greenness_Maximum Proportion of good quality around maturity onset N/A uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
PGQ_Onset_Greenness_Minimum Proportion of good quality around dormancy onset N/A uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
Rate_Greenness_Decrease Rates of change in EVI2 values during a senescence phase EVI2/Day uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 0.0001
Rate_Greenness_Increase Rates of change in EVI2 values during a greenup phase EVI2/Day uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 0.0001
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