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Full catalog/VNP03DNB
VNP03DNB·v2·dataset

Where each nighttime-lights pixel sits (VIIRS, Suomi-NPP)

VIIRS/NPP Day/Night Band Terrain Corrected Geolocation L1 6-Min Swath 750 m
deformation NASA LAADS Level 1A active NetCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. This is the location bookkeeping for VIIRS's nighttime-lights ('day/night') band: for each 750-meter pixel it records latitude, longitude, surface height, a land-or-water tag, and sun, sensor and moon angles, including how much the moon is lit.

How it's made. Calculated for the Suomi-NPP VIIRS day/night band by combining the satellite's line of sight with an Earth shape model and a terrain map to pin down each pixel's ground position.

How & where you'd use it. It provides the precise locations behind nighttime-lights imagery, an under-the-hood input used through the finished light products rather than directly.

What's measured

SOLID EARTH › GEODETICSSOLID EARTH › GEODETICS › COORDINATE REFERENCE SYSTEMSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › SENSOR CHARACTERISTICS › VIEWING GEOMETRY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-01-19 → ongoing
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 1A
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsNetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Measure ground motion and subsidence (InSAR)
  • Track earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides
  • Map elevation and terrain change
Official description

The VIIRS/NPP Day/Night Band Terrain Corrected Geolocation 6-Min L1 Swath 750m product, short-name VNP03DNB includes the geolocation fields that are calculated for Visible-Infrared Imaging-Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) day-night band (DNB) Line of sight (LOS) for all orbits at the nominal resolution of 750 m. The locations and ancillary information correspond to the intersection of the centers of each Field of View (FOV) from 16 detectors in the DNB on the Earth's surface. The geolocation algorithm uses a number of inputs that include an Earth ellipsoid, geoid, and a digital terrain model along with the SNPP platform’s ephemeris and attitude data, and knowledge of the VIIRS sensor and satellite geometry. It provides geodetic coordinates (latitude and longitude), and related parameters for each VIIRS L1 pixel. The VNP03DNB product includes geodetic latitude, longitude, surface height above the geoid, solar zenith and azimuth angles, lunar zenith and azimuth angles, sensor zenith and azimuth angles, land/water mask, moon illumination fraction and phase angle, and quality flag for every pixel location.

Get the data

vnp03dnb_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP03DNB",
    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.