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Full catalog/XAERDT_L2_VIIRS_SNPP
XAERDT_L2_VIIRS_SNPP·v1·dataset

Haze, dust and smoke in the air (Suomi-NPP, 6 km)

VIIRS/SNPP Dark Target Aerosol L2 6-Min Swath 6km
atmosphere NASA LAADS Level 2 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. How much haze, dust and smoke is floating in the air, reported as aerosol optical depth (a measure of how much these particles dim sunlight), at 6-kilometer detail.

How it's made. Generated from the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi-NPP satellite using a NASA aerosol algorithm adapted from MODIS, processed as the satellite sweeps its swath every few minutes. Covers 2019 through 2022.

How & where you'd use it. Tracking wildfire smoke, dust and pollution, and contributing to a consistent multi-satellite record of airborne particles for air-quality and climate research.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESS › ANGSTROM EXPONENTATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLSATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL PARTICLE PROPERTIES

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2019-01-01 → 2023-01-01
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • 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 SNPP/VIIRS L2 Dark Target Aerosol 6-Min L2 Swath 6 km product, short-name XAERDT_L2_VIIRS_SNPP is provided at 6-km spatial resolution (at-nadir) and a 6-minute cadence that typically yields about 130 granules over the daylit hours of a 24-hour period. The SNPP/VIIRS L2 collection record spans from January 2019 through December 2022. The XAERDT_L2_VIIRS_SNPP product is a part of the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)–Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Dark Target Aerosol project under NASA’s Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program, led by Robert Levy, uses a special version of the MODIS Dark Target (DT) aerosol retrieval algorithm to produce Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and other aerosol parameters derived independently from seven sensor/platform combinations, where 3 are in GEO and 4 are in LEO. The 3 GEO sensors include Advanced Baseline Imagers (ABI) on both GOES-16 (GOES-East) and GOES-17 (GOES-West), and Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on Himawari-8. The 4 LEO sensors include MODIS on both Terra and Aqua, and VIIRS on both Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20. Adding the LEO sensors reinforces a major goal of this project, which is to render a consistent science maturity level across DT aerosol products derived from both types and sources of orbital satellites. The XAERDT_L2_VIIRS_SNPP product, in netCDF4 format, contains 45 Science Data Set (SDS) layers that include 8 geolocation and 37 geophysical SDSs. For more information consult LAADS [product description page](https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/products/XAERDT_L2_VIIRS_SNPP) or [Dark Target aerosol team page](https://darktarget.gsfc.nasa.gov/).

Get the data

xaerdt_l2_viirs_snpp_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="XAERDT_L2_VIIRS_SNPP",
    version="1",
    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 LAADS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.