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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 Albedo Daily Global 0.05 Degree Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) Version 2 product (VNP43C3) is derived from the 30 arc second CMG VNP43D Version 2 product suite. VNP43C3 is generated daily from all available high-quality reflectance data over a 16-day moving window emphasizing the ninth day of the retrieval period, which is reflected in the Julian date in the filename. The VNP43 algorithm uses the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) semi-empirical kernel-driven BRDF model, with the three kernel weights from VNP43C1 to compute white-sky albedos and the black-sky albedos at local solar noon 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. The quality and inversion status of the majority of the underlying 30 arc second pixels is provided as well as the percentage of the underlying pixels that were present or were snow covered. 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 VNP43C3 product includes 26 layers containing white-sky albedos and the black-sky albedos for the VIIRS DNB, moderate resolution bands M1 through M5, M7, M8, M10, and M11, as well as the shortwave band, visible band, and NIR broadbands. Along with the albedo data for the 13 bands are five ancillary layers for uncertainty, quality, local solar noon, percent finer resolution inputs, and snow cover. A low-resolution image is also available showing retrievals of WSA for the shortwave broadband in JPEG format.

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
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
C2847917671-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Albedo,
Anisotropy,
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

Schaaf, C., Wang, Z., Erb, A., & Paynter, I. (2025). VIIRS/NPP BRDF/Albedo Albedo Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43C3.002 Date Accessed: 2025-10-30

File Naming Convention

VNP43C3.A2025215.002.2025224210808.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP43C3) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025215), the Version of the data collection (002), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025224210808), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

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
Albedo_BSA_DNB Black-sky albedo for Day/Night band (0.7 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M1 Black-sky albedo for band M1 (0.412 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M2 Black-sky albedo for band M2 (0.445 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M3 Black-sky albedo for band M3 (0.488 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M4 Black-sky albedo for band M4 (0.555 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M5 Black-sky albedo for band M5 (0.672 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M7 Black-sky albedo for band M7 (0.865 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M8 Black-sky albedo for band M8 (1.240 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M10 Black-sky albedo for band M10 (1.61 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_M11 Black-sky albedo for band M11 (2.25 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_nir Black-sky albedo for NIR broadband (0.865 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_shortwave Black-sky albedo for shortwave broadband (1.61 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_BSA_vis Black-sky albedo for vis broadband (0.64 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_DNB White-sky albedo for Day/Night band (0.7 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M1 White-sky albedo for band M1 (0.412 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M2 White-sky albedo for band M2 (0.445 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M3 White-sky albedo for band M3 (0.488 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M4 White-sky albedo for band M4 (0.555 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M5 White-sky albedo for band M5 (0.672 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M7 White-sky albedo for band M7 (0.865 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M8 White-sky albedo for band M8 (1.240 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M10 White-sky albedo for band M10 (1.61 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_M11 White-sky albedo for band M11 (2.25 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_nir White-sky albedo for NIR broadband (0.865 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_shortwave White-sky albedo for shortwave broadband (1.61 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_vis White-sky albedo for vis broadband (0.64 μm) N/A int16 32767 32767 to 1000 0.001
BRDF_Albedo_Uncertainty BRDF inversion information N/A uint16 32767 32767 to 32766 0.001
BRDF_Quality BRDF and albedo quality information N/A uint8 255 255 to 5 N/A
Local_Solar_Noon Local solar noon zenith angle Degree uint8 255 255 to 90 N/A
Percent_Inputs Percent finer resolution data which contributed to the CMG Percent uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
Percent_Snow Percent of underlying data flagged as snow Percent uint8 255 255 to 100 N/A
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