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 1 product (VNP43C3) is derived from the 30 arc second CMG VNP43D Version 1 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

• The abnormally high activation of the high aerosol flag in the Collection 1 (C1) VNP09 product has impacted downstream products. The VNP43 BRDF/Albedo/NBAR product is affected by reducing the number of otherwise acceptable observations used as input to characterize surface anisotropy. This effect [most obvious over arid bright surfaces), results in a reduced number of high quality full BRDF model inversions. Therefore, users should be aware that bright arid surfaces (normally associated with high quality BRDF/Albedo/NBAR retrievals) are likely to be somewhat represented by lower quality results in C1. VNP09 has been corrected for Collection 2 (C2). Therefore, users should avoid substantive use of C1 VNP43 over arid regions (and wait for C2 products). In any event, users are always strongly encouraged to download and use the extensive QA data provided in VNP43[I-M]A2, in addition to the briefer mandatory QA provided as part of the VNP43[I-M]A1, 3 and 4 products.
• For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.