VNP43D53: VIIRS/NPP BRDF and Albedo Uncertainty Daily Global 1km

NASA/NOAA's Suomi NPP VIIRS BRDF/Albedo Uncertainty product (VNP43D53) provides daily estimates of pixel-level uncertainty for surface reflectance anisotropy and albedo. It is generated at a 30 arc-second (1km) resolution on a global Climate Modeling Grid, using a 16-day rolling window of data weighted to the ninth day. This dataset is part of the VNP43D product suite and its Version 1 has been decommissioned in favor of Version 2.

Use Cases

• Quantifying confidence in albedo estimates for climate model parameterization based on the uncertainty range layer.
• Assessing surface anisotropy retrieval quality over bright arid regions, noting the documented issue with high aerosol flag activation.
• Incorporating temporally smoothed, global surface reflectance data into climate simulations using the daily Climate Modeling Grid product.
• Analyzing trends in observation quality and snow status across VIIRS moderate resolution and day/night bands.

Strengths

• Provides global coverage on a Climate Modeling Grid designed for climate simulation models.
• Offers daily temporal resolution with data synthesized from a 16-day window for temporal stability.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and institutional backing.

Limitations

• Version 1 of this dataset is explicitly decommissioned as of July 31, 2025, directing users to newer versions.
• Metadata is incomplete: column names, row counts, and specific data layers are not listed in the provided sources.
• Contains a known issue where high aerosol flags reduce the quality of BRDF inversions over bright arid surfaces.

Provenance

Source

NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).

Collection Method

Produced daily from satellite observations using a BRDF/Albedo model inversion.

Time Range

Daily production, but specific historical range is not provided.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:16:14.851617

Geography

Global