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Full catalog/VJ209CMG
VJ209CMG·v002·dataset

True surface color, daily (VIIRS NOAA-21, 0.05°)

VIIRS/JPSS2 Surface Reflectance Daily L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V002
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS5
In plain English

What it measures. Daily snapshots of the colors and energy bouncing off the land surface, after the haze and gases of the atmosphere have been stripped away. It includes a dozen color and near-infrared bands plus five readings of how warm surfaces look to the sensor, all laid out on a coarse worldwide grid.

How it's made. Built from observations by the VIIRS sensor on the NOAA-21 satellite, then atmospherically corrected and averaged onto a roughly 5.6-km global grid suited to climate models.

How & where you'd use it. Feeds climate simulations and lets scientists track land cover, vegetation, and surface changes over time at a global scale.

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 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) daily surface reflectance Climate Modeling Grid (VJ209CMG) Version 2 product provides an estimate of land surface reflectance from the NOAA-21 VIIRS sensor. Data are provided for three imagery bands (I1-I3) and nine moderate resolution bands (M1-M5, M7, M8, M10, M11) at 0.05 degree (~5,600 meter) resolution. 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. This product uses a weighted average of the best quality observation and is formatted as a CMG for use in climate simulation models. This product includes the twelve reflectance bands, five moderate resolution brightness temperature bands (M12-M16) and information variables representing relative azimuth angle, sensor zenith angle, solar zenith angle, reflectance band quality, time of day, and number mapping. 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

vj209cmg_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VJ209CMG",
    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.