VJ143D76: White-Sky Albedo for Visible Band from NOAA-20 VIIRS

NOAA-20 VIIRS VJ143D76 provides daily white-sky albedo values for the visible broadband (0.64 μm) at a 30 arc-second (1,000 meter) global resolution. The product is generated using a 16-day data window, temporally weighted to the ninth day, and formatted on a Climate Modeling Grid for climate simulations. It is part of a broader BRDF/Albedo product suite that includes values for multiple spectral bands and the Day/Night Band.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface energy balance in climate simulations based on the global Climate Modeling Grid format.
• Analyzing temporal trends in land surface reflectance using the daily, 16-day composite data.
• Comparing white-sky albedo (bihemispherical reflectance) with black-sky albedo for anisotropy studies.
• Incorporating visible band albedo into broader land surface studies alongside near-infrared and shortwave data.

Strengths

• Provides global coverage on a Climate Modeling Grid specifically designed for climate simulation models.
• Offers daily temporal resolution, synthesized from a 16-day window to reduce noise.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates established importance and curation.

Limitations

• Critical metadata is missing: row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided.
• Each product file contains only one data layer, which may complicate multi-band analysis.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the NOAA-20 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).

Time Range

Daily production, using a rolling 16-day data window.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:05:12.090368

Geography

Global