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Description

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Albedo Snow-free Model Parameters Daily Global 0.05 Degree Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) Version 2 product (VNP43C2) is derived from the 30 arc second CMG VNP43D Version 2 product suite. VNP43C2 is generated daily from all available snow-free acquisitions over a 16-day moving window emphasizing the ninth day of the retrieval period, which is reflected in the Julian date in the filename. VNP43C2 supplies the weighting parameters associated with the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal BRDF model, which is used to produce the VNP43C3 Albedo and VNP43C4 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 VNP43C2 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 four ancillary layers for uncertainty, quality, local solar noon, and percent finer resolution inputs.

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.

Product Summary

Platforms
Suomi-NPP
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
2012-01-19 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
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)
School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts, Boston (UMASS-B/SFE)
Concept ID
c2847917321-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/NPP BRDF/Albedo Snow-free 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/VNP43C2.002 Date Accessed: 2025-07-16

Data Center Citation

Crystal Schaaf, Zhuosen Wang, Angela Erb, Ian Paynter. 2025. VIIRS/NPP BRDF/Albedo Snow-free Model Parameters Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V002. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43C2.002.

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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