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Full catalog/VNP43D40
VNP43D40·v002·dataset

Quality flags for surface-brightness data (Suomi-NPP, daily)

VIIRS/NPP BRDF/Albedo Quality Daily L3 Global 30ArcSec CMG V002
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS5
In plain English

What it measures. Reports quality information for a companion surface-reflectance dataset, flagging how trustworthy each pixel is and noting things like snow status and number of clear observations.

How it's made. Generated daily by combining 16 days of VIIRS observations from the Suomi-NPP satellite onto a global climate grid at about 1 km resolution.

How & where you'd use it. A helper layer: people use it to decide which pixels of the main brightness/albedo data are reliable enough to trust in their analysis.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ALBEDOLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ANISOTROPYLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-01-19 → ongoing
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS5
  • 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 NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Albedo Quality product (VNP43D40) is produced daily using 16 days of data at 30 arc second (1,000 meter) resolution. Data are temporally weighted to the ninth day, which is reflected in the file name. The VNP43D product suite is provided in a Climate Modeling Grid (CMG), which covers the entire globe for use in climate simulation models. Due to the large file size, each VNP43D product contains just one data layer for each of the parameters included in the [VNP43MA2](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43MA2.002) product. VNP43D40 through VNP43D53 are the 30 arc second BRDF/Albedo Quality values, the Local Solar Noon values, the Valid Observations of the moderate resolution bands (M1 through M5, M7, M8, M10, and M11) plus the Day/Night Band (DNB), the Snow Status, and the Uncertainty. Details regarding methodology are available on the [VNP43MA2](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43MA2.002) product page and in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD). VNP43D40 consists of BRDF/Albedo quality information representing the overall quality of each pixel for VIIRS moderate resolution bands M1 through M5, M7, M8, M10, M11, and DNB. Known Issues * For complete information about known issues please refer to the [MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue).

Get the data

vnp43d40_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP43D40",
    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.