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Full catalog/VNP02IMG
VNP02IMG·v2·dataset

Raw camera-like image bands (VIIRS, Suomi-NPP, 375 m)

VIIRS/NPP Imagery Resolution 6-Min L1B Swath 375 m
land NASA LAADS Level 1B active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. The amount of light and heat energy the satellite's camera-like sensor recorded across five wavelength bands, from visible light through infrared, at a sharp 375-meter resolution. It also carries the matching reflectance values and quality information for each pixel.

How it's made. Built from the raw signal of the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi-NPP satellite, calibrated and pinned to ground locations to create a clean per-pixel measurement covering six minutes of orbit at a time.

How & where you'd use it. A foundational image product that scientists feed into higher-level maps of fires, clouds, land and ice. Most people encounter it through finished products rather than working with these raw radiance files directly.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › INFRARED RADIANCESPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › INFRARED WAVELENGTHS › REFLECTED INFRAREDSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › VISIBLE WAVELENGTHS › VISIBLE RADIANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-01-19 → ongoing
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 1B
  • 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/NPP Imagery Resolution 6-Min L1B Swath 375 m product, short-name VNP02IMG is derived from the five image-resolution or I-bands, which have a 375-meter resolution at nadir. Ranging in wavelengths from 0.6 µm to 12.4 µm, the I-bands are sensitive to visible/reflective, near-, shortwave-, mediumwave-, and longwave-infrared wavelengths. Derived from the NASA VIIRS L1A raw radiances, this product includes calibrated and geolocated radiance and reflectance data, quality flags, and granule- and collection-level metadata. In contrast to a MODIS L1B product, which temporally spans 5 minutes, the VIIRS L1B calibrated radiances product contains a nominal temporal duration of 6 minutes. The image dimensions of the 375-m swath product measure 6464 lines by 6400 pixels.

Get the data

vnp02img_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP02IMG",
    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.