VJ146A1_NRT: Daily Gridded Nighttime Satellite Radiance at 500m Resolution

Daily near real-time top-of-atmosphere nighttime radiance data from the VIIRS Day Night Band sensor on the JPSS1 satellite. The dataset contains 26 Science Data Sets (SDS) including sensor radiance, solar and lunar angles, cloud-mask flags, brightness temperatures, and quality flags. It is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated on March 12, 2026.

Use Cases

• Monitoring nighttime light pollution and human activity patterns based on Day Night Band radiance data.
• Analyzing cloud cover and atmospheric conditions based on the provided cloud-mask flags and brightness temperatures.
• Studying lunar illumination effects on Earth observation based on moon phase angle and illumination fraction data.
• Assessing data quality for downstream applications based on the VIIRS and cloud-mask specific Quality Flags (QF).

Strengths

• Contains 26 distinct Science Data Sets (SDS) providing multiple observational dimensions.
• Provides daily near real-time (NRT) updates for timely analysis.
• Includes quality flag information specific to the cloud-mask and multiple VIIRS moderate-resolution bands.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total data size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic or temporal bias inherent to the satellite's coverage.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite observations from the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day Night Band sensor on the JPSS1 satellite.

Time Range

Daily coverage.

Freshness

Daily near real-time product; last metadata update was 2026-03-12.

Geography

Global coverage from the satellite's orbit.