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Full catalog/VJ103MOD
VJ103MOD·v2.1·dataset

Where each pixel sits on Earth, a helper file (VIIRS NOAA-20)

VIIRS/JPSS1 Moderate Resolution Terrain Corrected Geolocation L1 6-Min Swath 750m
land NASA LAADS Level 1A active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. The precise Earth location of every pixel a satellite sensor sees, plus extras like surface height, sun and sensor viewing angles, and a land-versus-water marker.

How it's made. Computed for the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite by combining the spacecraft's position and orientation with an Earth model and terrain map to pin down each pixel's latitude and longitude.

How & where you'd use it. A behind-the-scenes helper file that geolocates VIIRS measurements. Most people use it indirectly through the imagery and science products it underpins rather than on its own.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › INFRARED RADIANCESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › REFLECTED INFRAREDSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › SENSOR CHARACTERISTICS › GEOLOCATIONSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE RADIANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2018-01-05 → ongoing
  • Measured byNOAA-20 (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 1A
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The VIIRS/JPSS1 Moderate Resolution Terrain Corrected Geolocation 6-Min L1 Swath 750m product, short-name VJ103MOD contains the derived line-of-sight (LOS) vectors for each of the 750-m moderate-resolution, or M-bands. The geolocation algorithm uses a number of inputs that include an Earth ellipsoid, geoid, and a digital terrain model along with the SNPP platform’s ephemeris and attitude data, and knowledge of the VIIRS sensor and satellite geometry. It produces geodetic coordinates (latitude and longitude), and related parameters for each VIIRS L1 pixel. The VJ103MOD product includes geodetic latitude, longitude, surface height above the geoid, solar zenith and azimuth angles, sensor zenith and azimuth angles, land/water mask, and quality flag for every pixel location.

Get the data

vj103mod_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VJ103MOD",
    version="2.1",
    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.