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Full catalog/AERDB_D3_VIIRS_NOAA20
AERDB_D3_VIIRS_NOAA20·v2·dataset

Haze, dust and smoke in the air (NOAA-20, daily)

VIIRS/NOAA20 Deep Blue Level 3 daily aerosol data, 1 degree x 1 degree grid
atmosphere NASA LAADS Level 3 active NetCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. A daily map of how much haze, dust, and smoke is floating in the air, summarized into 1-degree squares across the globe. Each square reports the average of the good-quality readings taken that day, along with extras like how much the readings varied.

How it's made. Built by averaging the higher-quality, quality-checked measurements from the NOAA-20 satellite's VIIRS sensor (the Deep Blue method) onto a tidy grid.

How & where you'd use it. Helpful for tracking air quality, watching dust storms and wildfire smoke spread, and studying how airborne particles change over days and regions.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESS › ANGSTROM EXPONENT

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2018-01-05 → ongoing
  • Measured byNOAA-20 (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsNetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The VIIRS/NOAA20 Deep Blue Level 3 daily aerosol data, 1x1 degree grid, Short-name AERDB_D3_VIIRS_NOAA20 product is derived from the Version-2.0 (V2.0) L2 6-minute swath-based products (AERDB_L2_VIIRS_NOAA20), and is provided in a 1x1 degree horizontal resolution grid. Each data field, in most cases, represents the arithmetic mean of all the cells whose latitude and longitude coordinates positions them within each grid element’s bounding limits. Other measures like standard deviation are also provided. This aggregated product is derived only using the best-estimate, QA-filtered retrievals. Using only cells that were measured on the day of interest, the algorithm requires at least three retrieved measurements to render a given grid as valid on any given day. This daily product record starts from January 5th, 2018. This L3 daily product, in netCDF, contains 45 Science Data Set (SDS) layers. For more information about the product and Science Data Set (SDS) layers, consult [product page](https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/products/AERDB_D3_VIIRS_NOAA20) or [Deep Blue aerosol team page](https://deepblue.gsfc.nasa.gov).

Get the data

aerdb_d3_viirs_noaa20_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AERDB_D3_VIIRS_NOAA20",
    version="2",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LAADS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.