VJ103IMG: VIIRS Satellite Geolocation Swath Data

NASA's VJ103IMG product provides terrain-corrected geolocation vectors for the VIIRS sensor aboard the JPSS1 satellite. It contains geodetic latitude, longitude, surface height, solar and sensor angles, a land/water mask, and a quality flag for every pixel at a 375-meter resolution. The data is derived from satellite ephemeris, attitude data, and digital terrain models.

Use Cases

• Precisely georeferencing VIIRS imagery based on derived line-of-sight vectors and terrain correction.
• Calculating solar illumination conditions for scenes using solar zenith and azimuth angles.
• Masking land and water areas in satellite data analysis using the included land/water mask.
• Assessing data quality for downstream processing via the per-pixel quality flag.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution (375m) per-pixel geolocation for VIIRS imagery bands.
• Includes multiple derived geophysical parameters (angles, height, mask) for each pixel.
• Produced by a major authoritative organization (NASA).

Limitations

• Key metadata like row count, file size, and specific license details are missing or conflicting across platforms.
• Column names are not provided, limiting precise understanding of data structure.
• Descriptions are identical across platforms, suggesting potential copy-paste metadata without platform-specific detail.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from SNPP platform ephemeris, attitude data, VIIRS sensor geometry, and digital terrain models.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:48:06.786722

Geography

Global (satellite swath)