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Full catalog/VNP43DNBA1
VNP43DNBA1·v002·dataset

How much sunlight the land reflects, model inputs (VIIRS Suomi-NPP, 1 km)

VIIRS/NPP DNB BRDF/Albedo Model Parameters Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V002
land NASA LPCLOUD Level 3 active HDF-EOS5
In plain English

What it measures. Model parameters describing how the land surface reflects sunlight in different directions, used to calculate surface reflectance and brightness (albedo) at 1-kilometer detail.

How it's made. Produced daily from 16 days of Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band data, weighted toward the middle day, using a reflectance model to capture how brightness changes with viewing and sun angles.

How & where you'd use it. These are intermediate building-block parameters: researchers plug them into simple formulas to compute surface albedo, and they are designed to continue NASA's long-running MODIS albedo record.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCELAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ALBEDOLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ANISOTROPY

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 Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) NASA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Albedo Model Parameters (VNP43DNBA1) Version 2 product provides BRDF/Albedo model parameters at 1 kilometer (km) resolution. The VNP43DNBA1 product is produced daily using 16 days of VIIRS data and is weighted temporally to the ninth day, which is reflected in the file name. The VNP43 data products are designed to promote the continuity of NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) BRDF/Albedo data product suite. The VNP43 algorithm uses the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) semi-empirical kernel-driven BRDF model, with the three kernel weights from VNP43DNBA1 to reconstruct surface anisotropic effects, correcting the directional reflectance to a common view geometry ([VNP43DNBA4](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43DNBA4.002)), while also computing integrated black-sky albedo (BSA) at local solar noon and white-sky albedo (WSA) ([VNP43DNBA3](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43DNBA3.002)). Researchers can use the BRDF model parameters with a simple polynomial to obtain black-sky albedo at any solar illumination angle. Likewise, both the BSA and WSA Science Dataset (SDS) variables can be used with a simple polynomial to manually estimate instantaneous actual albedo (blue-sky albedo). Additional details regarding the methodology are available in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD). The VNP43DNBA1 data product provides two SDS variables for mandatory quality and model parameters representing fiso, fvol, and fgeo for the VIIRS DNB. A low-resolution browse is also available showing BRDF/Albedo parameters for the DNB as a red, green, blue (RGB) image in JPEG format. 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?sensor=VIIRS).

Get the data

vnp43dnba1_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP43DNBA1",
    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.