VIIRS/JPSS1 NBAR: Daily Nadir-Adjusted Reflectance for Climate Modeling

NOAA-20 VIIRS VJ143D86 provides daily Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) for the M8 band (1.240 μm) at a 1,000-meter resolution. This product is part of a global Climate Modeling Grid suite, using 16 days of data weighted to the ninth day to correct for view-angle effects. It supports modeling of surface radiative properties for climate science.

Use Cases

• Modeling land surface albedo for climate simulations based on the Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) format.
• Analyzing surface anisotropy and bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) using the NBAR algorithm.
• Monitoring temporal changes in land surface reflectance from daily, globally-composite data.
• Integrating VIIRS moderate resolution band M8 data with other spectral bands for multispectral analysis.

Strengths

• Provides daily global coverage at a consistent 1,000-meter (30 arc-second) spatial resolution.
• Applies a documented NBAR algorithm to correct for view-angle effects, standardizing reflectance to a nadir view at local solar noon.
• Cross-platform presence on datagov and nasa_earthdata indicates established use and institutional support.

Limitations

• Metadata for specific columns, row counts, and file sizes is consistently missing or 'unknown' across all sources.
• The dataset's temporal coverage and exact update frequency are not explicitly stated, creating uncertainty for time-series analysis.
• Each product file contains only a single data layer, which may require combining multiple files for a complete spectral analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Produced daily from NOAA-20 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor data using a BRDF/Albedo modeling algorithm.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:07:28.003432 (from datagov)

Geography

Global