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VIIRS/NPP Leaf Area Index/FPAR 8-Day L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V002

Published by NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/LandSIPS;LP DAAC | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Metadata Last Checked: September 14, 2025 | Last Modified: 2025-09-11
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) (https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/dataset_discovery/viirs) Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) Version 2 data product (VNP15A2H) provides information about the vegetative canopy layer at 500 meter resolution. The VIIRS sensor is located aboard the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. LAI is an index that quantifies the one-sided leaf area of a canopy, while FPAR is the fraction of incoming solar energy absorbed through photosynthesis at 400 to 700 nanometers. This product is intentionally designed after the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LAI/FPAR operational algorithm to promote the continuity of the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission.The VNP15A2H product includes six Science Data Set Layers for the analysis of key factors in LAI/FPAR measurements. These include the LAI and FPAR measurements, quality detail for LAI/FPAR, extra quality detail for FPAR, and the standard deviation for LAI and FPAR. Two low resolution browse images are also available for each VNP15A2H granule: LAI and FPAR.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).Improvements/Changes from Previous Versions* Improved calibration algorithm and coefficients for entire Suomi NPP mission.* Improved geolocation accuracy and applied updates to fix outliers around maneuver periods.* Corrected the aerosol quantity flag (low, average, high) mainly over brighter surfaces in the mid- to high-latitudes such as desert and tropical vegetation areas. This has an impact on the retrieval of other downstream data products such as VNP13 Vegetation Indices and VNP43 Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)/Albedo.* Improved cloud mask input product for corrections along coastlines and artifacts from use of coarse resolution climatology data. * Replaced the land/water mask input product with the eight-class land/water mask from the VNP03 geolocation product that better aligns with MODIS.* More details can be found in this [VIIRS Land V2 Changes document](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/data/userguide/VIIRS_Land_C2_Changes_09152022.pdf).

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