NRT VIIRS/MODIS Dark Target Deep Blue Aerosol AOD with QA for Data Assimilation 3-Hour 1 D

3-hour and daily aggregated satellite data provides near-real-time aerosol optical depth measurements from NASA's Dark Target and Deep Blue algorithms. The product combines observations from VIIRS instruments on NOAA-20 and SNPP satellites with MODIS instruments on Aqua and Terra platforms. It is designed for evaluation and data assimilation applications, with data filtered using pre-defined quality assurance thresholds.

Use Cases

• Monitoring aerosol transport and air quality based on near-real-time 3-hour aggregated AOD data
• Evaluating aerosol model performance against a combined satellite product from VIIRS and MODIS
• Assimilating quality-assured satellite AOD observations into atmospheric forecasting systems
• Studying diurnal aerosol patterns using the 3-hour temporal resolution data files

Strengths

• Provides a single combined product from four satellite instruments (VIIRS on NOAA-20/SNPP and MODIS on Aqua/Terra)
• Offers both high-temporal-resolution (3-hour) and daily (24-hour) aggregated data products
• Includes data filtered using pre-defined quality assurance thresholds for reliability

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are not provided in the available metadata
• Conflicting license information exists between sources ('other-license-specified' vs 'None')
• Dataset size and row counts are unknown across all platform descriptions

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from VIIRS and MODIS instruments, aggregated to Level 3 products.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to datagov platform.

Geography

Global coverage from polar-orbiting satellites.