SATELLITE INSTRUMENT
VIIRS-DNB
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is one of the key instruments onboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) spacecraft, launched on October 28, 2011. It performs moderate resolution imaging with 22 channels, allowing environmental monitoring and weather forecasting. The very high sensitivity of the Day Night Band (DNB) of VIIRS allows global daily measurements of the visible and near-infrared light, in lowlight conditions.
TYPE OF INSTRUMENT
Radiometric imaging sensor
STATUS
Operational
DATA AVAILABILITY
Yes, freely available
TIME RANGE
Since 2012
MORE INFORMATION
CALIBRATED DATA
Yes
MEASUREMENT UNIT
nW/cm^2/sr
WAVELENGTH RANGE
500 – 900 nm
OBSERVED AREA
from -180° to 180° of long. from -65° to +75° of lat.
FIELD-OF-VIEW
3000 km swath
POINTING DIRECTION
Nadir
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
750 m
ORBIT TYPE
Sun-synchronous low alt. polar orbit (830 km alt.)
DATA FORMAT
NetCDF, tgz, png
DATA POLICY
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
FURTHER REFERENCES
– VIIRS-Land Near Real-Time Data (read the article)
– Comparison between VIIRS-DNB and Globe At Night data (read the article)
– Interactive visualization of VIIRS annual data on Light Pollution Map
– NASA’s Black Marble
– VIIRS Nighttime Light Data from EOG / Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines (read the article)
This repository is managed by INAF as part of the Interreg Central Europe project DARKERSKY4CE, co-funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. Whilst INAF takes every precaution to ensure that the content is accurate, INAF cannot guarantee that all information or data on the website is correct. Therefore, INAF accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information or data on the website or for any use which may be made of it.