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Full catalog/VNP09
VNP09·v2·dataset

True surface color, single pass (VIIRS, Suomi-NPP)

VIIRS/NPP Atmospherically Corrected Surface Reflectance 6-Min L2 Swath 375m, 750m - V2
land NASA LAADS Level 2 active HDF-EOS
In plain English

What it measures. An estimate of the true color and brightness of the land surface in many color bands, with the haze and gases of the atmosphere stripped out, from a single satellite pass. Surface reflectance basically means how much of each wavelength of sunlight the ground bounces back.

How it's made. Generated from the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi-NPP satellite, with each file covering about 6 minutes of daytime data and corrected for atmospheric effects like ozone, water vapor, and airborne particles.

How & where you'd use it. A foundational input for mapping vegetation, land cover, and surface changes; produced only for daytime, ice-free land conditions.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-01-19 → ongoing
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS
  • 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 Atmospherically Corrected Surface Reflectance 6-Min L2 Swath 375m, 750m product, with short name VNP09, are estimates of surface reflectance in each of the VIIRS reflective bands I1-I3, M1-M5, M7, M8, M10, and M11. The VNP09 contains approximately 6 minutes' worth of data. Surface reflectance for each moderate-resolution (750m) or imagery-resolution (375m) pixel is retrieved separately for the Level-2 products. Surface reflectance is obtained by adjusting top-of-atmosphere reflectance to compensate for atmospheric effects. Corrections are made for the effects of molecular gases, including ozone and water vapor, and for the effects of atmospheric aerosols. All surface reflectance products are produced for daytime conditions only. The product is produced under all atmospheric conditions except for night and oceans.

Get the data

vnp09_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP09",
    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.