VJ203DNB: JPSS-2 VIIRS Day-Night Band Geolocation Data at 750m Resolution

The VJ203DNB product is a Level 1 terrain-corrected geolocation dataset from the NOAA-21 (JPSS-2) satellite's VIIRS Day-Night Band. It provides geodetic coordinates and related parameters for each 750-meter pixel, including latitude, longitude, surface height, and solar, lunar, and sensor angles. The dataset is produced by NASA, with on-orbit validation correcting geolocation errors, including a 2000-meter correction for the Day-Night band.

Use Cases

• Precise georeferencing of nighttime satellite imagery based on the provided latitude and longitude coordinates.
• Analyzing lunar and solar illumination conditions for low-light observations based on the zenith and azimuth angles.
• Masking land and water features in imagery using the included land/water mask.
• Assessing data quality for downstream applications using the per-pixel quality flag.

Strengths

• Underwent on-orbit validation with corrected geolocation errors, including a 2000-meter correction for the Day-Night band.
• Provides multiple derived parameters per pixel, including surface height and multiple illumination angles.
• Uses terrain correction based on a digital terrain model, Earth ellipsoid, and geoid.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from the Joint Polar-orbiting Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2/NOAA-21) platform's VIIRS sensor using ephemeris, attitude data, and geometric models.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 20:15:53.240910; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from a polar-orbiting satellite.