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Full catalog/AERDB_M3_VIIRS_NOAA20
AERDB_M3_VIIRS_NOAA20·v2·dataset

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

VIIRS/NOAA20 Deep Blue Level 3 monthly aerosol data, 1x1 degree grid
atmosphere NASA LAADS Level 3 active NetCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly global maps of airborne particles, haze, dust, and smoke, summarized on a 1-degree grid, along with related statistics.

How it's made. Derived from the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite using the Deep Blue method, by averaging the daily gridded aerosol products into monthly values (requiring at least 3 valid days per grid cell).

How & where you'd use it. Helps track air quality and how much dust, smoke, and haze hang in the air month to month, supporting climate and pollution studies.

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 monthly aerosol data, 1x1 degree grid, Short-name AERDB_M3_VIIRS_NOAA20 product is derived from the Version-2.0 (V2.0) daily L3 gridded products (AERDB_D3_VIIRS_NOAA20), and is provided in a 1 x 1 degree horizontal resolution grid. Arithmetic mean values from the daily L3 gridded products also provide the basis to derive a complement of statistics for the monthly aggregated products. To exclude poorly sampled grid elements, the algorithm requires at least 3 valid days’ worth of data to render a given monthly grid element as valid. This monthly product record starts from January 5th, 2018. This L3 monthly product, in netCDF format, contains 45 Science Data Set (SDS) layers that are named identical to the SDSs in the daily L3 product. 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_M3_VIIRS_NOAA20) or [Deep Blue aerosol team page](https://deepblue.gsfc.nasa.gov).

Get the data

aerdb_m3_viirs_noaa20_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="AERDB_M3_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.