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Full catalog/VJ215A2H
VJ215A2H·v002·dataset

How leafy and sun-absorbing plants are (VIIRS, JPSS-2, 8-day)

VIIRS/JPSS2 Leaf Area Index/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V002
biosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 4 active HDF-EOS5
In plain English

What it measures. Two related measures of plant canopies worldwide: how much leaf area is packed into an area of ground, and what fraction of incoming sunlight the plants soak up for photosynthesis. Updated every eight days at 500-meter detail.

How it's made. Produced from the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-21 satellite, using the same processing approach as the long-running MODIS vegetation products to keep the record consistent.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for tracking the health and growth of vegetation, monitoring crops and forests, and feeding climate and carbon models.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATIONBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › LEAF CHARACTERISTICS › LEAF AREA INDEX (LAI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION › FRACTION OF ABSORBED PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION (FAPAR)

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2023-02-10 → ongoing
  • Measured byNOAA-21 (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS5
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map vegetation, forests and biomass
  • Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
  • Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description

The NOAA-21 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) Version 2 data product (VJ215A2H) provides information about the vegetative canopy layer at 500 meter resolution. The VIIRS sensor is located aboard the NOAA-21 satellite. LAI is an index that quantifies the one-sided leaf area of a canopy, while FPAR is the fraction of incoming solar energy absorbed through photosynthesis at 400 to 700 nanometers. This product is intentionally designed after the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LAI/FPAR operational algorithm to promote the continuity of the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission. The VJ215A2H product includes six variables for the analysis of key factors in LAI/FPAR measurements. These include the LAI and FPAR measurements, quality detail for LAI/FPAR, extra quality detail for FPAR, and the standard deviation for LAI and FPAR. Two low resolution browse images are also available for each VJ215A2H granule: LAI and FPAR. 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

vj215a2h_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VJ215A2H",
    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.