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Full catalog/VNP16A2
VNP16A2·v002·dataset

How much water plants and soil release (Suomi-NPP, 8-day, 500 m)

VIIRS/NPP Actual and Potential Evapotranspiration 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V002
atmosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 4 active HDF-EOS5
In plain English

What it measures. How much water plants and soil release into the air through evapotranspiration, plus the related potential rate and energy involved, summed over 8-day periods at 500-meter detail.

How it's made. Produced from Suomi-NPP VIIRS data combined with daily weather reanalysis, run through the Penman-Monteith equation that estimates water loss from vegetation and surfaces.

How & where you'd use it. Helps with monitoring crop water use, drought, irrigation needs, and the water cycle across landscapes.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPOTRANSPIRATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPORATIONATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › PRECIPITATION PROFILES › LATENT HEAT FLUX

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2025-01-01 → ongoing
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS5
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Actual and Potential Evapotranspiration (VNP16A2) data product is an 8-day composite dataset produced at 500 meter (m) pixel resolution. The VNP16A2 algorithm is based on the Penman-Monteith equation, which includes inputs of daily meteorological reanalysis data along with VIIRS remotely sensed data products such as 8-day vegetation property dynamics and daily surface albedo. Provided in the VNP16A2 product are five variables for composited Evapotranspiration (ET), Latent Heat Flux (LE), Potential ET (PET) and Potential LE (PLE) along with a quality control variable. Two low resolution browse images, ET and LE, are also available for each VNP16A2 granule. The pixel values for the two Evapotranspiration variables (ET and PET) are the summation of 8-day total water loss within the composite period and the pixel values for the two Latent Heat variables (LE and PLE) are the average total energy over a unit area for a day during the composite period. Note that the last acquisition period of each year is a 5 or 6-day composite period, depending on the year. Known Issues * Please refer to the [VIIRS Land Products website](https://viirsland.gsfc.nasa.gov/Products/NASA/ET_ESDR.html) and [MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue?sensor=VIIRS) for information about VNP16A2 known issues.

Get the data

vnp16a2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP16A2",
    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.