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Full catalog/VNP02MOD_NRT
VNP02MOD_NRT·v2·dataset

Raw imagery, near-real-time (VIIRS Suomi-NPP, 750 m)

VIIRS/NPP Moderate Resolution Bands L1B 6-Min Swath 750 m NRT
land NASA LANCEMODIS Level 1B NetCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Calibrated, location-tagged imagery in 16 color bands spanning visible, near-infrared, and heat-sensing wavelengths at about 750-meter detail, delivered quickly after the satellite passes overhead.

How it's made. Produced from six-minute chunks of VIIRS data collected during a Suomi-NPP overpass and processed into calibrated swath imagery in a near-real-time stream.

How & where you'd use it. A foundational input used to make higher-level products; the fast turnaround makes it valuable for time-sensitive needs like tracking fires, storms, and other rapidly changing conditions.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2021-12-15 → 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 Moderate Resolution Bands L1B 6-Min Swath 750m Near Real Time (NRT) product, short-name VNP02MOD_NRT is among the VIIRS Level 1 and Level 2 swath products that are generated from the processing of 6 minutes of VIIRS data acquired during the S-NPP satellite overpass. The VIIRS sensor has 16 moderate-resolution channels (M-bands) that have 16 detectors (16 rows of pixels per scan), that span the wavelengths from 0.412 micrometer to 12.1 micrometer. The VNP02MOD product is comprised of 16 bands that are sensitive to visible, near-infrared (NIR), and thermal wavelengths. The spatial resolution of the instrument at viewing nadir is approximately 750 m for the Moderate-resolution and Day/Night Bands, and 375m for the Imagery bands.

Get the data

vnp02mod_nrt_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP02MOD_NRT",
    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 LANCEMODIS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.