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Full catalog/VNP43MA2
VNP43MA2·v002·dataset

Quality flags for surface-reflectance data (Suomi-NPP, 1 km)

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

What it measures. Quality information for the companion VIIRS surface-reflectance and albedo products, telling users how good each band's data is and how many clear observations went into each pixel over a 16-day window, at 1-kilometer detail.

How it's made. Produced daily from Suomi-NPP VIIRS data, running the BRDF/Albedo algorithm and recording the reliability of the underlying inputs rather than a physical measurement itself.

How & where you'd use it. A companion product that researchers check before trusting the reflectance and albedo data, so they can filter out low-quality pixels.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-01-17 → 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 (VNP43MA2) Version 2 product provides BRDF and Albedo quality at 1 kilometer (km) resolution. The VNP43MA2 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 VNP43MA2 product gives information regarding band quality and days of valid observation within a 16-day period for nine VIIRS moderate resolution bands and three broadbands. 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 [VNP43MA1](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43MA1.002) to reconstruct surface anisotropic effects, correcting the directional reflectance to a common view geometry ([VNP43MA4](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43MA4.002)), while also computing integrated black-sky albedo (BSA) at local solar noon and white-sky albedo (WSA) ([VNP43MA3](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP43MA3.002)). 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 VNP43MA2 data product provides a total of 23 SDS variables including: BRDF/Albedo band quality and days of valid observation within a 16-day period for VIIRS moderate resolution bands M1-M5, M7-M8, and M10-M11; as well as land water type class flag; snow BRDF albedo class flag; local solar noon; albedo uncertainty and the platform name. 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

vnp43ma2_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP43MA2",
    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.