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Full catalog/VJ209A1
VJ209A1·v002·dataset

True surface color of the land (VIIRS NOAA-21, 8-day, 1 km)

VIIRS/JPSS2 Surface Reflectance 8-Day L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V002
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS5
In plain English

What it measures. The true color and brightness of the land surface across nine color bands, as it would look without the haze of the atmosphere, at about 1-kilometer detail, combined into the cleanest view over each 8-day window.

How it's made. Derived from the VIIRS sensor on the NOAA-21 satellite, with corrections removing the effects of gases, water vapor, and airborne particles, and the best cloud-free observation chosen for each pixel.

How & where you'd use it. A foundation for tracking vegetation health, land cover, and seasonal changes, and an input for many other land-monitoring products.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2023-02-10 → ongoing
  • Measured byNOAA-21 (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS5
  • 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 8-day Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) surface reflectance (VJ209A1) Version 2 composite product provides an estimate of land surface reflectance from the NOAA-21 VIIRS sensor for nine moderate resolution bands (M1 - M5, M7, M8, M10, M11) at nominal 1 kilometer resolution (~926 meter). The 1 kilometer dataset is derived through resampling the native 750 meter VIIRS resolution in the Level 2 input product. The data are corrected for atmospheric conditions such as the effects of molecular gases, including ozone and water vapor, and for the effects of atmospheric aerosols. Each pixel represents the best possible Level 2G observation during an 8-day period that is selected on the basis of high observation coverage, low sensor angle, the absence of clouds or cloud shadow, and aerosol loading. Included in the product along with the nine reflectance bands are day of year, reflectance band quality, control, reflectance state quality assurance, relative azimuth angle, sensor zenith angle, and solar zenith angle layers. Known Issues * For complete information about known issues please refer to the [MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue?sensor=VIIRS&sat=J2).

Get the data

vj209a1_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VJ209A1",
    version="002",
    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 LPCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.