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Full catalog/AERDB_D3_VIIRS_SNPP
AERDB_D3_VIIRS_SNPP·v2·dataset

Haze, dust and smoke in the air, daily (VIIRS Suomi-NPP)

VIIRS/SNPP 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, worldwide map of how much haze, dust, and smoke is in the air, summarized on a 1-degree grid with averages and spread (standard deviation) for each grid cell.

How it's made. Built by aggregating the higher-quality measurements from the VIIRS Deep Blue aerosol swath product on the Suomi-NPP satellite, requiring at least three good readings before a grid cell counts.

How & where you'd use it. Handy for tracking day-to-day global air-quality and dust patterns and for comparing against models and other satellites.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-03-01 → ongoing
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (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/SNPP Deep Blue Level 3 daily aerosol data, 1x1 degree grid, Short-name AERDB_D3_VIIRS_SNPP product is derived from the Version-2.0 (V2.0) L2 6-minute swath-based products (AERDB_L2_VIIRS_SNPP), and is provided in a 1 x 1 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 March 1st, 2012 . 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_SNPP) or [Deep Blue aerosol team page](https://deepblue.gsfc.nasa.gov).

Get the data

aerdb_d3_viirs_snpp_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AERDB_D3_VIIRS_SNPP",
    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.