The VIIRS/NPP Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance Daily L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid Near Real Time (NRT), short-name VNP43MA4N product provides NBAR estimates at 1 kilometer (km) resolution. The VNP43MA4N product is produced daily using 16-day VIIRS data (i.e., the current day and the previous 15 days). The view angle effects are removed from the directional reflectances resulting in a stable and consistent NBAR product.

The VNP43 algorithm uses the RossThick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) semi-empirical kernel-driven BRDF model, with the three kernel weights from VNP43MA1N to reconstruct surface anisotropic effects, correcting the directional reflectance to a common view geometry (VNP43MA4N), while also computing integrated black-sky albedo (BSA) at local solar noon and white-sky albedo (WSA) (VNP43MA3N). 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) layers 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) at https://www.umb.edu/editor_uploads/images/school_for_the_environment_cs/Viirs/VIIRS_ATBD_Apr_Jul2017.pdf.

The VNP43MA4N product includes 18 SDS layers for BRDF/Albedo mandatory quality and nadir reflectance for VIIRS nine moderate bands M1-M5, M7-M8, and M10-M11.