VIIRS/NPP BRDF/Albedo Albedo Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V002

Daily global albedo data at 1-kilometer resolution is produced using 16 days of VIIRS observations from the Suomi NPP satellite, weighted to the ninth day. The dataset provides 36 science variables, including black-sky and white-sky albedo for nine VIIRS moderate bands and three broadbands, using the RTLSR kernel-driven BRDF model. It is designed to continue the legacy of NASA's MODIS BRDF/Albedo product suite for monitoring land surface radiative properties.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface energy balance based on daily, 1km-resolution black-sky and white-sky albedo values.
• Monitoring land surface change over time using the 16-day composite temporal weighting scheme.
• Estimating instantaneous actual (blue-sky) albedo by applying a polynomial to the provided BSA and WSA science variables.
• Continuity analysis of surface anisotropy by comparing VIIRS data with legacy MODIS BRDF/Albedo products.

Strengths

• Provides a high level of spectral detail with albedo values for nine VIIRS moderate bands and three broadbands.
• Ensures temporal consistency by using a 16-day composite window weighted to a central day.
• Promotes data continuity as part of NASA's effort to extend the MODIS BRDF/Albedo product suite.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and exact file size are unavailable across all sources.
• The dataset has known issues, but the descriptions are truncated and details are not provided.
• License information is listed as 'other-license-specified' without further clarification.

Provenance

Source

NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite, VIIRS instrument.

Collection Method

Produced daily using the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) semi-empirical kernel-driven BRDF model on 16 days of VIIRS data.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:44:53.163588

Geography

Global coverage at 1km resolution on a sinusoidal (SIN) grid.