VNP46A2: Daily Gap-Filled Lunar-Adjusted Nighttime Lights

VIIRS/NPP Gap-Filled Lunar BRDF-Adjusted Nighttime Lights Daily L3 Global 500m Linear Lat Lon Grid is a daily, global satellite product providing moonlight- and atmosphere-corrected nighttime light observations. Known as VNP46A2, it contains seven Science Data Sets, including BRDF-corrected and gap-filled radiance, lunar irradiance, and quality flags for clouds and snow. Data is provided in HDF-EOS5 format on a 500-meter linear latitude-longitude grid.

Use Cases

• Monitoring urban growth and electrification based on gap-filled DNB BRDF-Corrected NTL radiance.
• Analyzing seasonal or event-based light changes using daily, atmosphere-corrected observations.
• Masking low-quality data for time-series composites using the Mandatory Quality Flag, Cloud Mask, and Snow Flag layers.
• Studying lunar illumination effects on nightlight retrievals using the DNB Lunar Irradiance data.

Strengths

• Provides daily, global coverage with atmospheric and lunar correction, reducing noise in time-series analysis.
• Includes gap-filling to create a continuous data product, mitigating data loss from clouds.
• Contains multiple quality assurance layers (Mandatory Quality Flag, Cloud Mask, Snow Flag) for data filtering.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is inconsistent across platforms, with conflicts on license, author, and size information.
• Data format (HDF-EOS5) requires specialized tools for access and processing, creating a technical barrier.
• The spatial resolution (500m) may be too coarse for analyzing fine-scale intra-urban features.

Provenance

Source

LANCEMODIS

Collection Method

Satellite observation from the VIIRS sensor aboard the Suomi NPP spacecraft.

Time Range

Daily product; specific start date not provided.

Freshness

2026-04-09 21:14:39.695431

Geography

Global coverage on a 500m linear latitude-longitude grid.