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Full catalog/VNP43MA3
VNP43MA3·v002·dataset

How much sunlight the surface reflects (VIIRS, Suomi-NPP, daily, 1 km)

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

What it measures. How much sunlight the land surface reflects (its albedo), given two ways: the reflectance under direct overhead sun at local noon and the reflectance under uniform sky light.

How it's made. Generated daily from 16 days of VIIRS data on the Suomi-NPP satellite, using a model that accounts for how reflectance changes with viewing and sun angles, at roughly 1-km detail.

How & where you'd use it. Important for understanding how much solar energy the surface absorbs versus bounces back, which matters for climate models, energy balance studies, and tracking changes in land and snow cover.

What's measured

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

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 (VNP43MA3) Version 2 product provides albedo values at 1 kilometer (km) resolution for the bihemispherical reflectance white-sky albedo (WSA) and directional hemispherical reflectance black-sky albedo (BSA) at local solar noon. The VNP43MA3 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 [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). 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 VNP43MA3 product provides a total of 36 SDS variables including: BSA; WSA; and mandatory quality layers for nine VIIRS moderate bands M1-M5, M7-M8, and M10-M11; as well as near-infrared (NIR); shortwave; and visible broadbands. A low-resolution image is also available showing retrievals of WSA for band M1 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

vnp43ma3_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP43MA3",
    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.