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Description

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Albedo (VNP43DNBA3) Version 2 product provides albedo values at 1 kilometer (km) resolution for the bihemispherical reflectance white-sky albedos (WSA) and directional hemispherical reflectance black-sky albedos (BSA) at local solar noon. The VNP43DNBA3 product is produced daily using 16 days of VIIRS data and is weighted temporally to the ninth day, which is reflected in the file name. The VNP43 data products are designed to promote the continuity of NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) BRDF/Albedo data product suite.

The VNP43 algorithm uses the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) semi-empirical kernel-driven BRDF model, with the three kernel weights from VNP43DNBA1 to reconstruct surface anisotropic effects, correcting the directional reflectance to a common view geometry (VNP43DNBA4), while also computing integrated black-sky albedo (BSA) at local solar noon and white-sky albedo (WSA) (VNP43DNBA3). Researchers can use the BRDF model parameters with a simple polynomial to obtain black-sky albedo at any solar illumination angle. Likewise, both the BSA and WSA Science Dataset (SDS) layers can be used with a simple polynomial to manually estimate instantaneous actual albedo (blue-sky albedo). Additional details regarding the methodology are available in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD).

The VNP43DNBA3 product provides BSA, WSA, and mandatory quality layers for the VIIRS DNB. A low-resolution image is also available showing retrievals of WSA for the shortwave broadband in JPEG format.

Known Issues

Improvements/Changes from Previous Version

  • The NOAA-20 VIIRS algorithms include the same improvements as the S-NPP VIIRS V002
  • Improved calibration algorithm and better coefficients for entire NOAA-20 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 VJ113 Vegetation Indices and VJ143 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

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
1000 Meters x 1000 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
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
C2847929477-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Reflectance,
Albedo,
Anisotropy

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 DNB BRDF/Albedo Albedo Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43DNBA3.002 Date Accessed: 2025-10-30

File Naming Convention

VNP43DNBA3.A2025220.h06v03.002.2025231060800.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP43DNBA3) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025220), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h06v03), the Version of the data collection (002), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025231060800), 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 BSA (at local solar noon) for DNB N/A int16 37267 37267 to 1000 0.001
Albedo_WSA_DNB WSA for DNB N/A int16 37267 37267 to 1000 0.001
BRDF_Albedo_Band_Mandatory_Quality_DNB BRDF/Albedo mandatory quality band for DNB N/A uint8 255 255 to 1 N/A
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