VNP43D59: Black-Sky Albedo for VIIRS Band M7, Daily Global 1km

Global daily black-sky albedo (directional hemispherical reflectance) data at 30 arc-second (1,000 meter) resolution for the VIIRS band M7 (0.865 μm). This dataset is part of the VNP43D BRDF/Albedo product suite, produced daily using a 16-day temporal composite weighted to the ninth day and formatted for Climate Modeling Grids (CMG). It provides a key surface radiative property for climate simulation models and land surface studies.

Use Cases

• Modeling surface energy budgets in climate simulations based on the provided black-sky albedo values.
• Analyzing temporal changes in land surface reflectance using the daily, 16-day composite time series.
• Integrating VIIRS-derived albedo into land surface models that require band-specific radiative properties.
• Studying the anisotropy of surface reflectance as part of the broader BRDF/Albedo product suite.

Strengths

• Provides global coverage at a consistent 1km resolution, suitable for climate-scale analysis.
• Data is produced daily using a 16-day composite, offering a balance between temporal frequency and data quality.
• Part of a systematically processed suite from the Suomi NPP VIIRS instrument, with documented algorithm improvements.

Limitations

• Metadata for size, row count, and specific columns is unavailable across all sources.
• Each product file contains only one data layer due to large file sizes, which may complicate multi-band analysis.
• License is specified as 'other-license-specified' without explicit details on reuse terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/NOAA Suomi NPP VIIRS instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data processed through the VNP43D BRDF/Albedo algorithm.

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-04-09, though the actual data time range is not specified.

Geography

Global coverage.