VNP43D57: VIIRS Black-Sky Albedo for Band M4 Daily Global 1km Grid

VNP43D57 Version 1 provided daily global black-sky albedo (BSA) measurements for the VIIRS satellite's M4 band at 0.555 μm wavelength. The data were produced at a 30 arc-second (approximately 1,000 meter) resolution using a rolling 16-day temporal window, weighted to the ninth day, and formatted for Climate Modeling Grids (CMG). This product was part of a suite of albedo datasets derived from the Suomi NPP satellite's VIIRS instrument but has been decommissioned as of July 31, 2025.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface energy balance in climate simulations based on the black-sky albedo parameter.
• Analyzing temporal changes in land surface reflectance using the daily, 16-day composite data.
• Studying vegetation dynamics and health via the green wavelength band (M4 at 0.555 μm).
• Integrating satellite-derived albedo into global climate modeling grids (CMG).

Strengths

• Provides a specific, physically-defined parameter (Black-Sky Albedo) for a key satellite band (M4 at 0.555 μm).
• Offers global spatial coverage at a consistent 1km resolution, suitable for climate-scale analysis.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and official provenance.

Limitations

• The dataset is deprecated; Version 1 was decommissioned on July 31, 2025, directing users to newer versions.
• Metadata for size, row count, and specific columns is unavailable across all sources.
• A known issue with abnormally high activation of the high aerosol flag in Collection 1 data is noted but not fully described.

Provenance

Source

NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP VIIRS instrument, processed by LPCLOUD.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing, derived using a Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Albedo model.

Time Range

Daily production using a 16-day data window.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:57:38.945545

Geography

Global coverage.