VIIRS Dark Target Aerosol Optical Thickness Swath Data

Global satellite-derived measurements of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) and related properties over land and ocean are provided every 6 minutes. The dataset is produced by the NASA Suomi NPP VIIRS instrument using the established Dark Target algorithm, with separate retrieval methods for ocean and vegetated land surfaces. It is maintained by the ASIPS organization.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial patterns of aerosol optical thickness over oceans using spectral AOT columns.
• Tracking temporal changes in atmospheric particulates over vegetated land surfaces.
• Validating and calibrating air quality and climate models with global satellite observations.
• Studying aerosol size parameters and their properties derived from spectral measurements.

Strengths

• Provides global coverage with a high temporal resolution of measurements every 6 minutes.
• Uses a mature and established Dark Target algorithm validated through MODIS heritage.
• Contains separate, optimized retrieval algorithms for ocean and land surfaces.

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources: one reports 2024-05-01, while others report 2026-03-12.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• License information is inconsistently reported as 'other-license-specified' or 'None'.

Provenance

Source

ASIPS (A-SIPS)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Suomi NPP VIIRS instrument, processed with the NASA standard Level-2 Dark Target algorithm.

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:09:59.128590

Geography

Global