AERDB_L2_VIIRS_SNPP: Satellite-Derived Aerosol Optical Depth

Global satellite data from the VIIRS/SNPP instrument provides atmospheric aerosol loading measurements for daytime, cloud-free, and snow-free scenes. The Level 2 product, version 2.0, has a nominal at-nadir resolution of 6 km and uses the Deep Blue algorithm over land and the SOAR algorithm over ocean to retrieve Aerosol Optical Thickness at a 550 nm reference wavelength. This dataset is part of the Collection 2.0 product, which includes algorithmic improvements and is also available for the NOAA-20 satellite.

Use Cases

• Monitoring regional air quality and pollution events based on Aerosol Optical Depth (AOT) retrievals.
• Studying long-term aerosol trends and climate interactions using the time-series of satellite swaths.
• Validating and improving atmospheric models with prognostic uncertainty estimates for 550 nm AOT.
• Assessing aerosol loading over both land and ocean surfaces using the combined Deep Blue and SOAR algorithms.

Strengths

• Algorithmically improved Collection 2.0 product with added prognostic uncertainty estimates for AOT.
• Provides global, consistent daytime measurements with a defined at-nadir spatial resolution of 6 km.
• Cross-platform availability on data.gov and NASA Earthdata signals established importance and reliability.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is medium; specific column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided in the sources.
• Data is restricted to daytime, cloud-free, and snow-free scenes, limiting temporal and spatial coverage.
• One source lists a future 'last updated' date (2026-04-09), indicating a potential metadata conflict or error.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 platforms.

Freshness

2026-04-09 20:54:17.068746 (Note: This is a future date, indicating a potential metadata error)

Geography

Global