The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared
Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) supports a Day-Night Band (DNB) sensor that
provides global daily measurements of nocturnal visible and
near-infrared(NIR) light that are suitable for Earth system science and
applications. The VIIRS DNB's ultra-sensitivity in lowlight conditions
enable us to generate a new set of science-quality nighttime products that
manifest substantial improvements in sensor resolution and calibration when
compared to the previous era of Defense Meteorological Satellite
Program/Operational Linescan System's (DMSP/OLS) nighttime lights image
products. Such improvements allow the VIIRS DNB products to better monitor
both the magnitude and signature of nighttime phenomena, and anthropogenic
sources of light emissions.
VNP46A2 is the short-name for the daily moonlight- and atmosphere-corrected
Nighttime Lights (NTL) product called VIIRS/NPP Gap-Filled Lunar
BRDF-Adjusted Nighttime Lights Daily L3 Global 500m Linear Lat Lon Grid.
Poor-quality, Outlier, potential cloud contamination,
or other issues
255
None
No retrieval, Fill value (masked out on ingestion)
Snow_Flag Class Table
Value
Color
Description
0
None
No Snow/Ice
1
None
Snow/Ice
Terms of Use
Terms of Use
LP DAAC NASA data are freely accessible; however, when an author
publishes these data or works based on the data, it is requested that the
author cite the datasets within the text of the publication and include a
reference to them in the reference list.
Citations
Citations:
Román, M.O., Wang, Z., Sun, Q., Kalb, V., Miller, S.D., Molthan, A.,
Schultz, L., Bell, J., Stokes, E.C., Pandey, B. and Seto, K.C., et al.
(2018). NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite.
Remote Sensing of Environment 210, 113-143.
10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.017
The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) supports a Day-Night Band (DNB) sensor that provides global daily measurements of nocturnal visible and near-infrared(NIR) light that are suitable for Earth system science and applications. The VIIRS DNB's ultra-sensitivity in lowlight conditions enable us to generate a …
[null,null,[],[],[],null,["Dataset Availability\n: 2012-01-19T00:00:00Z--2025-08-24T00:00:00Z\n\nDataset Provider\n:\n\n\n [NASA LAADS DAAC](https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP46A2.002)\n\nCadence\n: 1 Day\n\nTags\n:\n[brdf](/earth-engine/datasets/tags/brdf) [daily](/earth-engine/datasets/tags/daily) [nasa](/earth-engine/datasets/tags/nasa) [nighttime](/earth-engine/datasets/tags/nighttime) [noaa](/earth-engine/datasets/tags/noaa) [population](/earth-engine/datasets/tags/population) [viirs](/earth-engine/datasets/tags/viirs) \n\nDescription \nThe Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared\nImaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) supports a Day-Night Band (DNB) sensor that\nprovides global daily measurements of nocturnal visible and\nnear-infrared(NIR) light that are suitable for Earth system science and\napplications. The VIIRS DNB's ultra-sensitivity in lowlight conditions\nenable us to generate a new set of science-quality nighttime products that\nmanifest substantial improvements in sensor resolution and calibration when\ncompared to the previous era of Defense Meteorological Satellite\nProgram/Operational Linescan System's (DMSP/OLS) nighttime lights image\nproducts. Such improvements allow the VIIRS DNB products to better monitor\nboth the magnitude and signature of nighttime phenomena, and anthropogenic\nsources of light emissions.\n\nVNP46A2 is the short-name for the daily moonlight- and atmosphere-corrected\nNighttime Lights (NTL) product called VIIRS/NPP Gap-Filled Lunar\nBRDF-Adjusted Nighttime Lights Daily L3 Global 500m Linear Lat Lon Grid.\n\nDocumentation:\n\n- [User's Guide](https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/v2/content/archives/Document%20Archive/Science%20Data%20Product%20Documentation/VIIRS_Black_Marble_UG_v1.3_Sep_2022.pdf)\n\n- [Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD)](https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/api/v2/content/archives/Document%20Archive/Science%20Data%20Product%20Documentation/Product%20Generation%20Algorithms/VIIRS_Black_Marble_ATBD_v1.1_July_2020.pdf)\n\n- [General Documentation](https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/products/VNP46A2/)\n\nBands\n\n\n**Pixel Size**\n\n500 meters\n\n**Bands**\n\n| Name | Min | Max | Pixel Size | Description |\n|-------------------------------------|-----|--------|------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|\n| `DNB_BRDF_Corrected_NTL` | 0 | 6553.4 | meters | BRDF corrected DNB NTL |\n| `Gap_Filled_DNB_BRDF_Corrected_NTL` | 0 | 6553.4 | meters | Gap Filled BRDF corrected DNB NTL |\n| `DNB_Lunar_Irradiance` | 0 | 6553.4 | meters | DNB Lunar Irradiance |\n| `Latest_High_Quality_Retrieval` | | | meters | Latest high quality BRDF corrected DNB radiance retrieval |\n| `Mandatory_Quality_Flag` | 0 | 3 | meters | Mandatory quality flag |\n| `Snow_Flag` | 0 | 1 | meters | Flag for snow cover |\n| `QF_Cloud_Mask` | | | meters | Quality flag for cloud mask |\n| Bitmask for QF_Cloud_Mask - Bit 0: Day/Night - 0: Night - 1: Day - Bits 1-3: Land/Water Background - 0: Land \\& Desert - 1: Land no Desert - 2: Inland Water - 3: Sea Water - 5: Coastal - Bits 4-5: Cloud Mask Quality - 0: Poor - 1: Low - 2: Medium - 3: High - Bits 6-7: Cloud Detection Results \\& Confidence Indicator - 0: Confident Clear - 1: Probably Clear - 2: Probably Cloudy - 3: Confident Cloudy - Bit 8: Shadow Detected - 0: No - 1: Yes - Bit 9: Cirrus Detection (IR) (BTM15 - BTM16) - 0: No cloud - 1: Cloud - Bit 10: Snow/Ice Surface - 0: No Snow/Ice - 1: Snow/Ice ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\n\n**Mandatory_Quality_Flag Class Table**\n\n| Value | Color | Description |\n|-------|-------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|\n| 0 | None | High-quality, Persistent nighttime lights |\n| 1 | None | High-quality, Ephemeral nighttime Lights |\n| 2 | None | Poor-quality, Outlier, potential cloud contamination, or other issues |\n| 255 | None | No retrieval, Fill value (masked out on ingestion) |\n\n**Snow_Flag Class Table**\n\n| Value | Color | Description |\n|-------|-------|-------------|\n| 0 | None | No Snow/Ice |\n| 1 | None | Snow/Ice |\n\nTerms of Use\n\n**Terms of Use**\n\nLP DAAC NASA data are freely accessible; however, when an author\npublishes these data or works based on the data, it is requested that the\nauthor cite the datasets within the text of the publication and include a\nreference to them in the reference list.\n\nCitations \nCitations:\n\n- Román, M.O., Wang, Z., Sun, Q., Kalb, V., Miller, S.D., Molthan, A.,\n Schultz, L., Bell, J., Stokes, E.C., Pandey, B. and Seto, K.C., et al.\n (2018). NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite.\n Remote Sensing of Environment 210, 113-143.\n [10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.017](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.017)\n\nDOIs\n\n- \u003chttps://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP46A2.002\u003e\n\nExplore with Earth Engine **Important:** Earth Engine is a platform for petabyte-scale scientific analysis and visualization of geospatial datasets, both for public benefit and for business and government users. Earth Engine is free to use for research, education, and nonprofit use. To get started, please [register for Earth Engine access.](https://console.cloud.google.com/earth-engine)\n\nCode Editor (JavaScript) \n\n```javascript\nvar dataset = ee.ImageCollection('NASA/VIIRS/002/VNP46A2')\n .filter(ee.Filter.date('2013-01-01', '2013-03-01'));\n\nvar nighttime = dataset.select('Gap_Filled_DNB_BRDF_Corrected_NTL');\nvar nighttimeVis = {min: 0.0, max: 1.0};\n\nMap.setCenter(-77.1056, 38.8904, 3);\nMap.addLayer(nighttime, nighttimeVis, 'Nighttime');\n```\n[Open in Code Editor](https://code.earthengine.google.com/?scriptPath=Examples:Datasets/NASA/NASA_VIIRS_002_VNP46A2) \n[VNP46A2: VIIRS Lunar Gap-Filled BRDF Nighttime Lights Daily L3 Global 500m](/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NASA_VIIRS_002_VNP46A2) \nThe Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) supports a Day-Night Band (DNB) sensor that provides global daily measurements of nocturnal visible and near-infrared(NIR) light that are suitable for Earth system science and applications. The VIIRS DNB's ultra-sensitivity in lowlight conditions enable us to generate a ... \nNASA/VIIRS/002/VNP46A2, brdf,daily,nasa,nighttime,noaa,population,viirs \n2012-01-19T00:00:00Z/2025-08-24T00:00:00Z \n-90 -180 90 180 \nGoogle Earth Engine \nhttps://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets\n\n- [https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP46A2.002](https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP46A2.002)\n- [https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP46A2.002](https://doi.org/https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NASA_VIIRS_002_VNP46A2)"]]
