VNP16A3GF: Global Yearly Evapotranspiration at 500m Resolution

Global land surface data provides yearly composites of actual and potential evapotranspiration (ET) and latent heat flux at a 500-meter pixel resolution. The dataset is derived from NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP VIIRS satellite data and uses a gap-filled algorithm based on the Penman-Monteith equation, incorporating daily meteorological reanalysis and vegetation dynamics. It is generated annually after the full year's input data is available, offering cleaned and interpolated values for improved quality.

Use Cases

• Modeling regional water budgets based on yearly summed evapotranspiration layers.
• Assessing agricultural drought and irrigation demand using potential evapotranspiration (PET).
• Validating land surface models with gap-filled, quality-controlled latent heat flux averages.
• Monitoring long-term changes in terrestrial water cycling from yearly composite data.

Strengths

• Provides gap-filled data where poor-quality inputs are cleaned via linear interpolation.
• Offers a consistent global product at a relatively high 500-meter spatial resolution.
• Algorithm integrates multiple data sources, including daily meteorological reanalysis and VIIRS vegetation products.

Limitations

• Not available in near-real-time, as it is generated only at the end of each calendar year.
• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided across sources.
• License information is conflicting or unclear, listed as 'other-license-specified' on one platform but 'None' on another.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from the Suomi NPP VIIRS instrument, processed using the Penman-Monteith equation.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:45:24.293436

Geography

Global