VIIRS Aerosol Optical Depth and Aerosol Particle Size EDRs V3

Dataset Availability

2022-10-29T00:00:00Z–2026-06-08T18:44:00.400000Z

Dataset Producer

NOAA

Earth Engine Snippet

ee.ImageCollection("NOAA/VIIRS/AOD_EDR/V3")

Cadence

1 Day

Tags

aerosol aod atmosphere noaa viirs

Description

The VIIRS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and Aerosol Particle Size (APS) Environmental Data Records (EDRs) product provides aerosol properties retrieved from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor. The primary product is the AOD at 550 nm, with additional retrievals at other sensor channels and Angstrom Exponent over oceans. The spatial resolution is 750 meters.

We project the source rasters into a north-up lat-lon (EPSG:4326) grid using GDAL libraries. Data beyond 85°S and 85°N are excluded to avoid geometric complications when generating asset footprints for bounds filtering.

For more details and access to raw data, see:

• JPSS Aerosols page
• Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document
• Google Cloud JPSS main page

Bands

Bands

Pixel size: 750 meters (all bands)

Name	Units	Pixel Size	Wavelength	Description
AOD550	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieved aerosol optical depth at 550 nm
AOD_channel_M1	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.412 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M1
AOD_channel_M2	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.445 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M2
AOD_channel_M3	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.488 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M3
AOD_channel_M4	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.555 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M4
AOD_channel_M5	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.672 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M5
AOD_channel_M6	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.746 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M6
AOD_channel_M7	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.865 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M7
AOD_channel_M8	Dimensionless	750 meters	1.24 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M8
AOD_channel_M9	Dimensionless	750 meters	1.378 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M9
AOD_channel_M10	Dimensionless	750 meters	1.61 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M10
AOD_channel_M11	Dimensionless	750 meters	2.25 μm	Retrieved aerosol optical depth in sensor channel M11
AngsExp1	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Angstrom Exponent calculated from AOD at M4 and M7 over ocean (M3 and M7 for ABI)
AngsExp2	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Angstrom Exponent calculated from AOD at M7 and M10 over ocean
SfcRefl_M1	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.412 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M1
SfcRefl_M2	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.445 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M2
SfcRefl_M3	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.488 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M3
SfcRefl_M4	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.555 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M4
SfcRefl_M5	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.672 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M5
SfcRefl_M6	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.746 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M6
SfcRefl_M7	Dimensionless	750 meters	0.865 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M7
SfcRefl_M8	Dimensionless	750 meters	1.24 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M8
SfcRefl_M9	Dimensionless	750 meters	1.378 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M9
SfcRefl_M10	Dimensionless	750 meters	1.61 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M10
SfcRefl_M11	Dimensionless	750 meters	2.25 μm	Surface reflectance of land and ocean for sensor channel M11
SpaStddev	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	3 by 3 standard deviation of TOAreflectance at M1/M11 (land/ocean)
Residual	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieval residual of best solution
AOD550LndMdl_Dust	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieved AOD at 550nm for the dust land aerosol model
AOD550LndMdl_Generic	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieved AOD at 550nm for the generic land aerosol model'
AOD550LndMdl_Urban	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieved AOD at 550nm for the urban land aerosol model
AOD550LndMdl_Smoke	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieved AOD at 550nm for the smoke land aerosol model
ResLndMdl_Dust	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieval residual for the dust land aerosol model
ResLndMdl_Generic	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieval residual for the generic land aerosol model
ResLndMdl_Urban	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieval residual for the urban land aerosol model
ResLndMdl_Smoke	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Retrieval residual for the smoke land aerosol model
FineMdlIdx	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Index of fine mode aerosol model over ocean
CoarseMdlIdx	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Index of coarse mode aerosol model over ocean
FineModWgt	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Fine mode weight over ocean
AerMdl	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Aerosol model selected from prescribed models during the retrieval: 0: oceanic aerosol 1: dust over land 2: generic aerosol over land 3: urban aerosol over land 4: smoke over land
QCAll	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Overall quality flag for aerosol optical depth retrieval: 0: high quality 1: medium quality 2: low quality 3: no retrieval
QCAE	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Overall quality flag for Angstrom Exponent retrieval over ocean: 0: high quality 1: medium quality 2: low quality 3: no retrieval
QCExtn	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Quality flag describing the external (or input) masks. For each "yes/no" bit, a "yes" value indicates the presence of that mask.
Bitmask for QCExtn Bits 0-1: Input cloud mask 0: confidently clear 1: probably clear 2: probably cloudy 3: confidently cloudy Bit 2: Input snow mask 0: no 1: yes Bit 3: Input cloud shadow mask 0: no 1: yes Bit 4: Input fire mask 0: no 1: yes Bit 5: Input glint mask 0: no 1: yes Bit 6: Input heavy aerosol mask 0: no 1: yes Bit 7: Ephemeral water from input land/water mask 0: no 1: yes
QCTest	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Quality flag describing internal tests for specific conditions that may impact or hinder AOD computation. For each "yes/no" bit, a "yes" value indicates presence of the feature being tested.
Bitmask for QCTest Bit 0: Cloud test 0: no 1: yes Bit 1: Cirrus test 0: no 1: yes Bit 2: Thin cirrus test 0: no 1: yes Bit 3: Inhomogeneity test 0: no 1: yes Bit 4: Snow/ice test 0: no 1: yes Bit 5: Ephemeral water test 0: no 1: yes Bit 6: Shallow water test 0: no 1: yes Bit 7: Heavy aerosol test 0: no 1: yes
QCInput	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Quality flag describing the types of bad inputs that impact or hinder AOD computation.. For each "yes/no" bit, a "yes" value indicates that the input has the specified problem.
Bitmask for QCInput Bit 0: Input location 0: good 1: bad, if longitude beyond [-180°,180°] latitude beyond [-90°,90°] Bit 1: Input geometry 0: good 1: bad, if zenith angle beyond [0°,90°] azimuth angle beyond [-360°,360°] Bit 2: Input ancillary data 0: good 1: bad, if TPW beyond [0,20] cm ozone beyond [0,1] atm-cm surface pressure beyond [500,1500] mb wind speed beyond [0,100] m/s wind direction beyond [0°,360°] Bit 3: Input reflectance and brightness temperature 0: good 1: bad, if M1-M11 reflectance beyond [0,1] M15 or M16 brightness temperature beyond [200,350] K M6 reflectance is saturated Bit 4: Shallow ocean from input land/water mask 0: no 1: yes Bit 5: Shallow inland water from input land/water mask 0: no 1: yes Bit 6: Coast line from input land/water mask 0: no 1: yes
QCPath	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Quality flag describing the retrieval paths/schemes. For each "yes/no" bit, a "yes" value indicates the presence of that feature.
Bitmask for QCPath Bit 0: Pixel over water 0: no 1: yes Bit 1: Bright land surface 0: no 1: yes Bit 2: Sunglint over water 0: no 1: yes Bit 3: SW scheme over dark land 0: no 1: yes Bit 4: SWIR scheme over dark land 0: no 1: yes Bit 5: Retrieval over bright land 0: no 1: yes Bit 6: Retrieval over bright land with dark land scheme 0: no 1: yes
QCRet	Dimensionless	750 meters	None	Quality flag describing problems arising from data retrieval that may impact or hinder AOD computation. For each "yes/no" bit, a "yes" value indicates that retrieval failed for that reason.
Bitmask for QCRet Bit 0: Retrieval failed 0: no 1: yes Bit 1: Large airmass 0: no 1: yes Bit 2: Barren land cover type 0: no 1: yes Bit 3: Extrapolation 0: no 1: yes Bit 4: Large residual 0: no 1: yes (Larger than 0.5 over land; 0.3 over ocean)' Bit 5: NDVI_SWIR out-of-range 0: no 1: yes (Beyond [-0.1,0.8] over land) Bit 6: Redness ratio out-of-range 0: no 1: yes (Beyond [0.4,1.6] over land) Bit 7: Adjacent to cloud or snow 0: no 1: yes

Image Properties

Image Properties

Name	Type	Description
version	INT	Product version
revision	INT	Product revision
creation_time	INT	Product creation time (Unix timestamp)
ascend_descend_data_flag	INT	0 (ascend) or 1 (descend)
day_night_data_flag	STRING	"day" or "night"
end_orbit_number	INT	End orbit number
satellite_name	STRING	Satellite name: "NOAA-20", "NOAA-21", or "NPP"
start_orbit_number	INT	Start orbit number

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

There are no restrictions on the use of JPSS data, and it can be used or redistributed as desired.

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Code Editor (JavaScript)

function aodWithGoodQc(image) {
  var qcBand = image.select('QCAll');
  var mask = qcBand.eq(0);
  var aodBand = image.select('AOD550');
  var raster = aodBand.updateMask(mask);
  var raster_mean = raster.reduceNeighborhood({
    reducer: ee.Reducer.mean(),
    kernel: ee.Kernel.square({radius: 2, units: 'pixels'}),
    skipMasked: false
  });
  return raster.unmask(raster_mean);
}

var images = ee.ImageCollection('NOAA/VIIRS/AOD_EDR/V3')
  .filterDate('2023-05-16', '2023-05-17')
  .map(aodWithGoodQc);

Map.addLayer(
  images,
  {min: 0, max: 1, palette: ['800080', '0000ff', '00ffff', '008000', 'ffff00', 'ff0000']},
  'AOD550');

Open in Code Editor

VIIRS Aerosol Optical Depth and Aerosol Particle Size EDRs V3

The VIIRS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and Aerosol Particle Size (APS) Environmental Data Records (EDRs) product provides aerosol properties retrieved from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor. The primary product is the AOD at 550 nm, with additional retrievals at other sensor channels and Angstrom Exponent over oceans. …

NOAA/VIIRS/AOD_EDR/V3, aerosol,aod,atmosphere,noaa,viirs

2022-10-29T00:00:00Z/2026-06-08T18:44:00.400000Z

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